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THE 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE 



HOLY SCRIPTURES, 



THE TESTIMONY OF 



REASON AND NATURE, 



AND THE YARIOUS PHENOMENA OF 



LIFE AND DEATH. ^ ^ 



" Immortality o'ersweeps 
All pains, all tears, all time, all fears ; and peals \ -~ J •• 
Like the eternal thunders of the deep, ^**s2 
Into my heart this truth — Thou liy'st for eyer !" — Byron. 




BY 

REV. HIRAM MATTISON, A.M., 

AUTHOR OF "DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY," AND YARIOUS ASTRO- 
NOMICAL AND MUSICAL WORKS. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
PEKKINPINE & HIGGrlNS, 

No. 56 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 
1864. 




Entered according to the Act of Congress, in tne year 1864, by 

HIRAM MATTISON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 

WESTCOTT k THOMSON, STEREOTYPEKS. 
C. SHERMAN, SON & CO., PRINTERS. 



3 0 t\ % 



\ 




CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 

SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY. 
CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 



Philosophical Distinction between Matter and Spirit 11 

CHAPTER II. 

Matter and Spirit Distinct — Scripture Testimony 18 

CHAPTER III. 

Two-fold Nature of Man— A Spirit in a Body 22 

CHAPTER IV. 

Souls not Pre-existent, nor Supplied by Immediate Creation, but 

Propagated 29 

CHAPTER V. 

The Nature of Death 42 



CHAPTER VI. 

Conscious existence of Souls between Death and the Resurrection. 54 
CHAPTER VII. 

The alleged Sleep of the Soul between Death and the Resurrection. 73 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The " Intermediate State/' or the Place of Souls between Death 

and the Resurrection 95 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

Immortal Existence not a Result of Faith in Christ 121 

CHAPTER X. 

Supposed Annihilation of the Wicked at the Day of Judgment 131 

PART SECOND. 

RATIONAL EVIDENCES OF A FUTURE LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Character and Value of the Rational Argument 147 

CHAPTER II. 

Indications of Another Life in the Structure and Phenomena of 

the Natural World 154 

CHAPTER in. 

Argument drawn from the General Belief of Mankind 163 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Relation of Man to the Lower Animals 180 

CHAPTER V. 

The Immortality of the Soul inferred from the Structure of the 

Body in which it dwells 185 

CHAPTER VI. 

Dominion of the Soul over the Body 193 

CHAPTER VII. 

Unequal Development of the Mind and Body.. 203 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Energy of the Soul, in cases where Physical Organs are wanting... 209 

CHAPTER IX. 

Unimpaired Mental Powers under Bodily Mutilation 214 



CONTENTS. 5 
CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

Reverie, Sleep, Dreaming, Catalepsy 219 

CHAPTER XL 

Vigor of the Soul in the Hour of Death 232 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Dissolution of the Body affords no ground for the Presump- 
tion that the Mind perishes with it 238 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Argument drawn from the Indestructibility of Matter 245 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Soul Immaterial, and therefore Immortal 250 

CHAPTER XY. 

Powers of the Soul — Memory 258 

CHAPTER XVI. 



Powers of the Soul continued — Rapidity of our Mental Processes. 277 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Powers of the Soul continued — Capabilities of Improvement, and 



Vast Achievement 285 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Immortality inferable from the Nature of our desires 294 

CHAPTER XIX. 
The Moral Nature of Man — Conscience, Remorse, &c 307 

CHAPTER XX. 

Our continued Love for the Dead a proof of Immortality 322 

CHAPTER XXL 
Natural Emblems of the Soul's Departure at Death 330 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Summary of the Argument, and Practical Conclusions 340 



6 CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

PAOI 



Consolation for the Bereft and Sorrowing 354 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Glorious Prospects before the Dying Christian 361 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Closing Appeal to the 'Unconverted 372 

Appendix 381 

Index of Scripture Quotations 387 

Index of Poetic Quotations 391 

General Index 393 



PREFACE. 



The work here presented to the public is the result of more 
or less reading, thought and preaching upon the subject for 
the last twenty-five years. At first the few facts and argu- 
ments in possession were embodied in a single discourse, 
upon what we have styled the Rational Evidences of a future 
life. As we still read and thought upon the subject, and 
preached upon it once or twice every year, revising with each 
delivery, the single sermon soon expanded into three ; and 
finally into a course of Six Lectures, covering most of the 
ground traversed in the present volume. These Lectures 
were delivered in the several churches of which the writer 
was pastor, and elsewhere, with apparent interest and profit 
on the part of the people ; and as their publication had been 
repeatedly called for. it was decided as early as 1856 to 
issue them in their present form, should it please God to 
spare the life of the writer till it could be accomplished. 

After a delay of years, and amid the onerous duties of a 
city pastorate, we have at length embodied the matter of 
these Lectures in book form, committing our thoughts and 
illustrations to the enduring page, in hope that we may thus 
not only reach many whom we should never see face to face, 
but may thus still preach on when the living voic« is hushed 
forever in death. 

7 



8 



PREFACE. 



And yet. let it be distinctly understood, that the following 
chapters are not sermons. With the exception of the last two 
or three, no one would suspect from their form or style that 
their author was a clergyman, or that the matter of the book 
had ever been embodied in pulpit discourses. Every para- 
graph has been re-written : and. so far as we are aware, not a. 
trace of their former sermonic aspect remains. 

The order of the argument is different from that of any 
other work upon the subject with which we are acquainted. 
Believing with Mr. Watson, that without a revelation from 
God, either oral or written, we could have no knowledge 
of a future state, we have placed the Scripture argument in 
the foreground, where we think it logically and rightfully 
belongs ; using the Eational argument only as a collateral 
support and elucidator of the grand and glorious revelation 
from God. Our reasons for this order are given at the com- 
mencement of Part Second. 

The style of the work is designedly plain and simple. 
Although we trust it may repay perusal even by the student 
and the theologian, it was written for the farmer, the me- 
chanic, the apprentice, the young Christian, and especially 
for the young minister whose opportunities for study have 
been limited, and to whom books upon the subject are seldom 
accessible. And yet we claim for the book a good degree of 
originality ; not only in the arrangement of its matter, but 
also in its arguments and illustrations. 

The Poetic Quotations embodied in the work, add greatly 
to its value! Many of them are exceedingly pertinent and 
beautiful, and will be new to most of our readers. They are 
the gatherings of thirty years, from a great variety of sources ; 
and as we know not the authors of many of them, nor 
whence we obtained them, we have omitted all quotation 
marks and credits in the body of the work, now saying 



PREFACE. 



9 



here, instead, that none of them are original with the writer. 
Most of them will be easily identified by persons familiar with 
the poets. 

To the friends of our youth and early manhood — fellow 
Christians and fellow-laborers of other years — who, like the 
writer, begin to mark the lengthening shadows of life's fleet- 
ing day, and to look for the opening of the eternal gates — to 
all such we proffer here once more our Christian salutation. 
We shall meet but few of you again in this world ; but hope 
to greet you finally in that ' £ better country, 1 ' where decay and 
death are unknown, and where. 

The dirge-like sound of parting words, 
Shall smite the soul no more. 

The plate fronting the title is an excellent copy of a photo- 
graph taken in April, 1864. It is inserted in the belief that 
in the estimation of some it may add interest to the volume, 
and as a tribute of affection and remembrance to many 
cherished earthly friends, scattered here and there over the 
fields of our former itinerant labors, but whom we expect to 
meet no more in this world. It may not be an unwelcome 
souvenir to some while we yet live ; and may be valued by 
others — kindred in the flesh and beloved brethren in Christ — 
as a memorial of our former earthly being, when we have left 
earth and time forever. For we would not be forgotten here, 
either while we live nor after our "departure." May we 
meet again in peace beyond the grave ! 

And now. grateful to Heaven that life and strength have 
been granted us to complete the work, and commending it to 
God in the language of the prayer with which it closes, we 
consecrate it to the future. May it cheer and encourage the 
Christian, establish the wavering, console the bereft and 
sorrowing, convince the unbeliever, awaken the thoughtless 



10 



PREFACE. 



and unconcerned, and bring sinners to God, when the hand 
that wrote it has crumbled back to dust ! 

H. Mattison. 

New York, Aug. 5, 1864. 

Note. — It is the author's purpose, should life and health 
permit, to prepare a similar volume upon The Resurrection 
of the Dead, to be followed by another upon The Heavenly 
World, and still another, upon the subject of Future Punish- 
ment. Should a gracious Providence favor this design, it is 
hoped that the entire four volumes may be issued, in uniform 
style, as early as January 1867 at the latest. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 



PART FIRST. 
SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY. 



CHAPTER I. 

PHILOSOPHICAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN MATTER AND 

SPIRIT. 

I. The term matter is a generic term applied to 
all substances, of which we have knowledge by our 
natural senses. Whatever is visible or tangible, or 
has form or color, or odor, or may be heard, or 
smelled, or tasted, or which we may control or direct 
by material agencies, is justly denominated a material 
substance. 

II. But our knowledge of matter is confined wholly 
to its properties, some of which are revealed to one of 
the senses, and some to another. We may have sen- 
sible evidence of the form and color of a substance, 
but of the ultimate particles of which it is composed, 
we know nothing beyond their qualities or attributes. 

III. As a general rule, the peculiar properties of 
the various species of material objects adhere tena- 
ciously to their original substances. We cannot 
change lead into gold, or silver into iron. This fact 
justifies the belief, that while each is alike material, 
there is an essential difference in the ultimate particles 
of which these substances are composed; or, in other 

11 



12 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



words, that the properties of gold, &c, are due, not to 
the adventitious circumstances of arrangement or 
chemical combination, but to the very nature of their 
ultimate elements. 

IV. As gold, and iron, and lead, and silver, are 
known by their distinguishing and peculiar proper- 
ties, so matter, under whatever form, and with what- 
ever special qualities, is known to possess certain 
general properties, which it possesses under every 
form, and under every circumstance of combination. 
These properties are termed essential, because, so far 
as we know, matter does not and cannot exist without 
them. 

V. The fact that matter under certain forms has 
but one or two properties by which it can reveal itself 
to our senses, while in other cases it has many such 
properties; affords no ground for the presumption 
that matter ever exists without any such qualities. 
Such a presumption is not only contrary to all observa- 
tion and experience, and to all the analogies of nature, 
but is both contradictory and absurd ; in that it as- 
sumes the existence of a substance, of whose existence 
it is impossible, in the very nature of things, that we 
should ever have any knowledge. 

VI. We have said that material substances are known 
only by their properties; and that the number of 
qualities revealed to the senses, varies in different 
substances. An orange, for instance, is yellow and 
round to the sight; fragrant to the smell; smooth and 
soft to the touch ; sweet to the taste ; and may be heard 
as it falls from the hand, or from the bough upon 
which it grew. It thus addresses all of our senses. 
But the atmosphere, which is as truly material as gold 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN MATTER AND SPIRIT. 13 



or marble, can only be heard and felt. We can 
neither see nor taste nor smell it. Those qualities, 
therefore, which appeal to these latter senses, cannot 
be essential properties of matter. 

VII. Light, caloric, electricity and magnetism, find 
their appropriate classification, as material sub- 
stances: for though they have but few of the qualities 
of matter, as generally found to exist, they are never- 
theless more or less subject to mechanical laws, like 
the more gross and ponderable substances. Light 
may be evolved, reflected, refracted and analyzed, so 
as to separate its component rays. Calorie may be 
generated, transferred and divided. Electricity may 
be collected, transferred and divided; and magnetism 
can be divided and transferred. Thus, though in 
some respects as unlike solid matter on the one hand, 
as thought or spirit on the other, all these subtile 
essences, and all others of their class, bear the image 
and superscription of materiality. No one of them 
has consciousness or knowledge, will or memory; 
while, on the other hand, their subjugation to me- 
chanical laws, proclaims them as belonging to the 
material world. 

VIII. The same general law which enables us to 
identify a substance as material, enables us also to 
identify each particular species of material substances. 
For instance, we have learned by observation and ex- 
perience, that a certain metallic substance is yellow 
and very heavy; that it melts at a certain tem- 
perature; is very malleable and ductile, and is not 
easily corroded. This substance we call gold. When- 
ever, therefore, we find a substance possessing all 
these qualities and none other, we pronounce it gold. 



14 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



And so on through all the realm of nature. All 
classifications and all science are based upon this 
law of agreenment, or disagreement in qualities. If 
we find a substance with all the properties of copper 
and no others, we are logically obliged to classify it 
as copper, unless we are prepared to unsettle the 
foundation of all science, and of all human know- 
ledge. 

IX. Ascending from species to genus, whenever 
we find a substance, however subtile or attenuated, 
that exhibits one or more of the properties of matter, 
and is evidently subject to one or more of the laws 
of the material world, we are constrained to pro- 
nounce it a material substance; however, it may differ 
in its qualities from matter in many other forms. 
We may not demand the hardness of steel, the 
weight of platinum, or the brilliancy of the diamond, 
before we pronounce it material. It is enough that 
it is known to possess one quality known to belong 
exclusively to material substances ; or that it is 
subject to one law to which matter only renders obe- 
dience. 

X. But if, for example, in the course of our investi- 
gations, we were to find a substance exhibiting all the 
properties of gold, with the additional quality of 
transparency, we have found a new metal! That one 
additional quality places it outside of all existing 
classifications, and calls for the recognition of a new 
species. 

Such, then, is the great law which pervades the 
whole realm of nature, and lies at the foundation of 
all human knowledge. To ignore it, is to discard all 
physical science, and to shut our eyes to the light re- 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN MATTER AND SPIRIT. 15 



fleeted, through the medium of science, from all the 
works of God. 

XI. But we have come to know of a class of quali- 
ties, or attributes, or phenomena, that are not known 
to belong to matter in any of its existing forms. In- 
telligence, reason, judgment, memory, consciousness, 
reflection and hope, are not known to belong to mat- 
ter ; and upon the same principle that we create a 
new species in science, when we find in any substance 
or object, an assemblage of qualities before unknown; 
the development of intelligence, reason, &c, demands 
the recognition of a corresponding essence, different 
from matter, to which these attributes may be re- 
ferred. For as all properties of matter imply a basis 
or ultimate substance to which they belong, and of 
which they are properties; so reason, memory and 
reflection, necessarily imply an ultimate essence to 
which they belong, and to which they may be referred. 
And if the difference in ultimate essences corresponds 
with the difference in their qualities, and phenomena, 
(as we have reason to believe,) then the difference be- 
tween the essence which exhibits intelligence, memory 
and reason, and that which exhibits only extension, 
color and divisibility, must be as great as the differ- 
ence in their properties respectively. The ultimate 
entity, therefore, which exhibits extension, color and 
form, must be essentially different in its very nature, 
from that which exhibits reason, hope and memory. 
There is a broad gulf between them — an immovable 
boundary that neither can pass. 

XII. To that ultimate essence, therefore, which 
exhibits consciousness, intelligence, memory, will, and 
reason, we give the name of spirit. As we may not 



16 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



refer the properties of silver to a piece of iron; so we 
may not refer the properties of spirit to any material 
basis. 

The properties of matter and spirit respectively, 
are essential characteristics of the respective essences, 
to which they belong. Copper cannot be iron, be- 
cause it has not the peculiar properties of iron, and 
has a set of distinguishing properties of its own ; and 
iron cannot be copper for the same reason. So of 
matter and spirit: matter cannot be spirit, because it 
exhibits none of the properties of spirit, and has its 
own distinguishing properties; and spirit cannot be 
matter, because it has none of the properties of mat- 
ter, and has an assemblage of distinguishing attributes 
of its own. 

Here, then, is the basis of the first grand division 
of the universe; namely, into matter and spirit.* 
On the one side of this infinite boundary line, are 
God and angels, and the spirits of men; and on the 
other side, all things material, whether animal, vege- 
table, or mineral; organic, or inorganic; fluids, or 
solids ; atoms, worlds, or systems. The former con- 

* " So far as the researches of philosophy extend, there are but two 
primary substances in the universe, and these are matter and spirit. 
All we know of these substances, is certain properties and phenomena 
which they exhibit. Matter is known to possess the properties of im- 
penetrability, extension, figure, divisibility, indestructibility, attrac- 
tion. Spirit is that which thinks, perceives, remembers, reasons, wills, 
and is susceptible of love, hatred, joy, and grief. The former of these 
properties are found in our bodies, in common with all other matter ; 
the latter constitute the phenomena of the mind. It is not reasonable 
to suppose that properties so opposite to each other, inhere in the same 
substance, and the only rational conclusion is that matter is not mind, 
and that mind is not matter." Lee's Theology, p. 257, 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN MATTER AND SPIRIT. 17 

stiture the spiritual and the latter, the material uni- 
verse. 

Such is the teaching of all true philosophy, and 
such we shnll find to be the verdict of Divine Reve- 



18 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER II. 

MATTEE AND SPIRIT DISTINCT — SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 

Assuming the Divine Inspiration and infallible 
authority of the Christian Scriptures, we shall now 
proceed to show that they everywhere recognize the 
philosophical distinction between matter and spirit, 
and the two-fold nature of man. 

I. " God is a Spirit." So taught the Great 
Teacher. John iv. 24. The same is taught 2 Cor. 
iii. 17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit" — and wherever 
the Spirit of God is spoken of throughout the Bible. 
Not that God has a spirit, as if his spiritual nature 
was united with another nature more gross and 
material; but that he is a spirit — immaterial, uncom- 
pounded, and indivisible ; and unconnected with bodily 
form or organs. 

The same is implied wherever we are taught that 
God exists in all places, at the same time, or fills im- 
mensity with his all-pervading presence. "Behold, 
heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain 
thee." 1 Kings, viii. 27. "Whither shall I go from 
thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make 
my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, 
and thy right hand shall hold me." Psa. cxxix. 7-10. 



MATTER AND SPIRIT DISTINCT. 



19 



"Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" 
Jer. xxiii. 24. Xow, unless a material being can 
have infinite extension, or universal presence, the 
omnipresence of God is impossible to him, as a 
material being. Hence, to assert his omnipresence, 
is virtually to assert his spirituality. On the other 
hand, to materialize the Deity, is not only to adopt a 
fundamental principle of Pantheism, but also to deny 
his omnipresence ; either of which is equivalent to the 
denial of his existence. 

Upon the authority of the Bible, then, we affirm 
that in God himself ice have a glorious specimen of 
purely spiritual existence — an all-wise, all-powerful, 
everywhere present spirit, without body, or material 
organs. The existence, therefore, of at least one 
purely spiritual being, conscious, intelligent, and 
active, cannot be denied without denying the existence 
and spirituality of the Godhead.* 

II. The Holy Angels are Spirits. This is 
taught Psa. civ. -4. "Who maketh his angels 
spirits," <fec, — and is cited by St. Paul, Heb. i. 7, 
as being spoken of "the angels of God." As God is 
a spirit, immaterial, invisible, and unembodied, so 
his angels, who stand in his presence, and do his 
pleasure, hearkening unto the voice of his word, are 
spirits also. Like Jehovah, the Father of spirits, 
they may have power to impress the natural senses, 

*It is no valid objection to this argument that Jehovah has sometimes 
manifested himself to the bodily senses of man, as when he has been 
xeen as a flame of fire, or a human form, or a cloud, or a dove ; or heard 
as a human voice. Such manifestations furnish no ground for the as- 
sumption that G-od has a bodily ^form, or material existence : but simply 
that he has condescended to manifest himself to the senses of men, in a 
few instances, for wise and beneficent purposes. 



20 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



for the purpose of communicating with mortals, as they" 
have done in a few instances: but this in no way de- 
tracts from the idea of their pure spirituality. For 
even the Infinite Spirit has at times seemed to have 
form, and has spoken to man "face to face."* 

III. The fallen angels or devils are also spirits. 
They were once obedient and holy; but "they^kept 
not their first estate." Jude 6. And though they 
" sinned," and were "cast down to hell," 2 Pet. ii. 
4: and though Christ saw Satan fall as lightning 
from heaven, Luke x. 19; this dire fall did not 
change their essential nature as spirits. Hence, they 
are spirits still: and are merely characterized as 
"evil spirits," "unclean spirits. "&c, throughout the 
New Testament. And hence the facility with which 
they could come out of, and enter into human bodies, 
already the abode of one human spirit. Though no 
two drops of water, or particles of gas, can occupy 
precisely the same space at the same time, we have 
reason to think it is far different with spirits: for in 
the case of Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Re- 
deemer cast seven devils, Mark xvi. 9 ; there were 
no less than seven of these "evil spirits.'' as Luke 
calls them, viii. 2 ; and one human soul in one body, 
at the same time. And in the case recorded, Luke 
viii. 26-36, one man had a "legion" of these "un- 
clean spirits" in him at the same time; for "many 
devils were entered into him." If there was one for 

Whatever is actually seen/' says Archbishop Whately, "or pre- 
sented to any of the senses, whether natural or supernatural, must of 
course be material : but a like effeet may be produced on the mind (as 
we experience in the case of imagination and dreaming, and, as we 
read, in the case of visions,) without the presence (as far as we know) 
of any material object/' Future State, p. 59. 



MATTER AXD SPIRIT DISTINCT. 



21 



each, of the swine, into which they entered, there were 
not less than two thousand in one human body, Mark 
y. 13. And this was possible only because though 
devils, they were still spirits, like the unfallen Sera- 
phim, and like Grod, their all-perfect Creator.* 

The Holy Scriptures thus plainly teach us that 
there are in the universe these three classes of purely 
spiritual beings — God, who is a spirit; the Holy 
Angels; and the Fallen Angels, or Devils. And if 
one is material, so must the otter be. They are all 
" spirits;" and as such cannot be bodies. 

*Mr. Geo. Storrs, a noted advocate of annihilationism, virtually ad- 
mits that the fallen angels are spirits. When, speaking of their final 
annihilation, he says, "How indescribably tremendous must be that 
wrath which shall utterly consume A spirit ; a wrath so tremendous 
that even mighty angels utterly perish under it." Six Sermons, p. 34. 



22 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER III, 

TWO-FOLD NATURE OF MAX — A SPIRIT IX A BODY. 

In the two previous chapters we have seen that 
matter and spirit are distinct essences; and that to 
deny the existence of pure and unembodied spirits, is 
not only to discard the very foundations of all true 
science, and contradict the plainest teaching of the 
Scriptures, but to materialize the Deity. We have 
also seen that the angels, both fallen and unfallen, 
are spirits also, like Jehovah himself. Thus we have 
not only proved the reality of the distinction between 
matter and spirit, but have adduced whole classes of 
specimens of purely spiritual existences. Leaving these 
points, therefore, as incontrovertibly established, we 
shall now proceed to show that man, also, has a 
purely spiritual nature, distinct from the body in which 
it dwells, and therefore, capable of a separate and con- 
scious existence, when the body is dissolved. 

By distinct, we mean of an entirely different 
nature. As electricity is distinct from the body in 
which it may exist, and light is distinct from the 
crystal through which it passes, and every part of 
which it pervades; so the spirit of man, though now 
in the body is distinct from it; and as capable of 
separate existence without a body, as electricity is 
without a conductor, or light without a telescope. 



man's two-fold nature. 



_ • ) 



True philosophy and revelation are always in 
harmony. As we might expect, therefore, the Holy 
Scriptures every where recognize the philosophical 
distinction between matter and spirit, and the two-fold 
nature of man. The following passages may be taken 
as examples: — 

I. Numbers xvi. 22, and xxii. 27 ; Grod is declared 
to be the "God of the spirits of &\\ flesh" But what 
can this language mean, if " spirit" and " flesh" are 
the same? or, in other words, if man has no "spirit" 
or soul distinct from the material body? 

II. Job iv. 18, 19. " Behold, he put no trust in 
his servants ; and his angels he charged with folly. 
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, 
whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed 
before the moth?" In this passage the soul is as 
clearly distinguished from the body, as the occupant 
of the house is distinguished from the house; and to 
confound the spirit with the body, would be to affirm 
that the house and he who dwells in it are essentially 
the same. 

III. Job xiv. 22. "But his flesh upon him shall 
have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." 
Here the "flesh" and "soul" are distinct — the flesh 
is "upon him," or envelops the soul; while the soul is 
"within him," or in the body. And these two, the 
" flesh'' without, and the " soul" within, constitute the 
man. 

IV. Job xxxii. 8. "But there is a spirit in man, 
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him un- 
derstanding." Here the "spirit in man" is plainly 
distinguished from the physical man, in which it 
dwells. And " understanding" instead of being re- 



24 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



cognized as a result of mere animal organization, is 
expressly attributed to "the inspiration of the 
Almighty," — the animating of a mortal body with its 
tenant spirit. 

V. Isa. xxxi. 3. Now the Egyptians are men, and 
not God; and their bones flesh and not spirit. Here 
the distinction between flesh and spirit is as plainly 
marked, as that between man and God ; and we may 
quite as reasonably confound the creature man with 
his Creator, as to confound flesh with spirit. 

VI. Zech. xii. 1. The Lord stretcheth forth the 
heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and 
formeth the spirit of man within him. Here the 
same doctrine is inculcated. The " spirit within 
man," and the "nian" which the spirit is " within," are 
as distinct as the house, and the tenant within the 
house. 

VII. Rom. viii. 16. The Spirit itself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. 
Here the term " spirit" is applied to both God and 
man in the same passage, as if, in one nature, man 
was as much a spirit as his Maker. If, then, this is 
not the case, what can such language mean? 

VIXI. 1 Cor. ii. 11. "For what man knoweth the 
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in 
him ? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but 
the Spirit of God." 

As the seat of knowledge in man, is not in the flesh 
and bones, nor even in the brain, but in the "spirit" 
"which is in him;" so "the things of God" are con- 
fined to the infinite mind; and can no more be fully 
understood by man, spirit as he is, than "the things 
of a man," can be understood by his material body. 



man's two-fold nature, 



25 



The distinction between the human body and soul 
is most obvious, and the parallelism of the text most 
striking. 

IX. 1 Cor. vi. 20.— " For ye are bought with a 
price; therefore, glorify God in your body, and in 
your spirit , which are God's." 

In this passage, the "body" and "spirit" are so 
clearly distinguished, that no comment can make it 
more plain. 

X. 2 Cor. iv. 16. — "For which cause we faint 
not ; but though our outward man perish, yet the in- 
ward man is renewed day by day." Now what 
could the apostle have meant by the "outward man," 
if it was not his body? and what by the "inward 
man," if it was not his soul? How can such scrip- 
tures be reconciled with the Materialists idea, that 
man has no soul distinct from his material body ? 

XI. "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years 
ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether 
out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such 
an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew 
such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, 
I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught 
up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which 
it is not lawful for a man to utter." 2 Cor. xii. 4. 

On the supposition that St. Paul was a Materialist, 
and did not believe in the existence of the human 
spirit, distinct from the body, what could he have^ 
meant in the above passage, hj S' in the body," and 
"out of the body?" He must certainly have known 
that he was not "out of the body," if such a thing 
was impossible. But he held to the true philosophy — 
that in his normal state he was a spirit "in the body;" 



26 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



but there was yet another state, in which it was possi- 
ble for him to exist; namely, that of separation from 
the body. In which of these two states he was caught 
up to the third heaven, he could not tell. 

XII. The history of the creation of the first man. 
Genesis first and second chapters, shows conclusively, 
that he was created as a compound being, consisting of a 
material body and an immaterial soul. " And God said. 
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and 
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea. and 
over the fowl of the air. and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that 
creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his 
own image, in the image of God created he him ; male 
and female created he them." Here we have the 
general fact asserted, that the Infinite Spirit created 
man in las own image. He must therefore have had 
a spiritual nature, unless the offspring of "'the Father 
of spirits" was simply a material being, and at the 
same time, "in the image" of that God who is a spirit. 
The order of events, or exact process of his creation, 
is more fully described in the second chapter, verse 
7th. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust 
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life; and man became a living soul." Mark the 
order of events as here stated. 

First, The Lord God "formed man of the dust of 
the ground." This was of course a material nature — 
his body. There it» lay, perfect in all its parts, but 
cold and motionless. The bones, and muscles, and 
tendons, and veins, and heart, and arteries, and brain, 
and nerves, and lungs, and eyes, and ears, were all 
in place and ready for action ; but as yet, there was 



man's two-fold nature. 



27 



no consciousness, nor sensation, nor life, nor motion. 
The heart had never throbbed, nor the lungs respired. 
The brain could not think, nor the nerves feel. The 
eye could not see, the ear hear, nor the palate taste. 
And why not? Was not the animal organism perfect 
and complete? And if thought and reason are the 
result of animal organization alone, why could not the 
brain have thought, the nerves felt, and the eyes 
seen? What need of the " breath of life" to set this 
wonderful machinery in motion? But there was no 
life, no motion, no intelligence. The eye could no 
more see of itself than a refracting telescope. The 
ear could no more hear than a metallic ear trumpet. 
The quenchless fires of the immortal nature had not 
yet been kindled. The intelligent conscious spirit 
was not yet there. The "man" formed of " dust" 
was as yet a mere human body, inanimate and lifeless. 

The second step in the process of creation, was the 
vivifying or animation of this man of dust. God 
"breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." This 
act was plainly the infusion or inspiration of a spiritual 
nature into the material body. It was not the im- 
parting of a merely animal life — it was more. Dr. 
Adam Clarke, like most other Hebrew critics, renders 
the passage, u nishmath chaiyim, the breath of lives, 
i. e., animal and intellectual." Benson renders the 
phrase, "the soul of lives" and the author of the 
" Literal Translation from the Hebrew," renders the 
passage, " and Jehovah Elohim formed a very man of 
dust of the ground, and blew into his nostrils the 
living spirit, and man was for a living creature."* 

* For a somewhat elaborate discussion of this point, see Jewish 
Chronicle for 1852, p. 37. 



28 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Not only did animal life then begin, but also that 
higher life in which consisted, in a great measure, the 
image of his Maker. He was but a body before ; but 
has now become "a living soul." Thus God "gave" 
man his spirit, Eccl. xii. 7, so that henceforth, " there 
is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty 
giveth them understanding.'' 114 Job xxxviii. 8. 

Thus the history of the creation of Adam shows as 
plainly as language can, that both his animal and in- 
tellectual "lives" began with the union of the spiritual 
nature with a material body. We thus learn synthe- 
tically what man is, by ascertaining his component 
essences, and the history and circumstances of their 
union. The same conclusions will be arrived at in a 
subsequent chapter, by what may be called the ana- 
lytical method. But as all men are not created as 
were Adam and Eve, and as questions have arisen as 
to the origin of the souls of mankind in general — 
whether they pre-exist, are created from time to time, 
or are in some way transmitted; we must turn aside 
for a time to these side issues in the next chapter. 

*"That the soul is immaterial," says Dr. Clarke, "and forms no 
part of the human body, is proved from the Scriptural account of the 
creation of Adam — his body being completely formed out of the dust 
of the earth, in all its organization, before the breath of lives was 
breathed into it by the Almighty, aud in consequence of which Adam 
became a living soul, or animated being. Allowing the ^Scriptural ac- 
count to be true, this argument is sovereignly conclusive." Life, ed 
1S37, pp. 504, 505. 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS. 



29 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOULS NOT PRE-EXISTENT, XOR SUPPLIED BY IMME- 
DIATE CREATION, BUT PROPAGATED. 

At the risk of breaking somewhat the connection 
between the preceding and the following chapter, we 
devote a few pages just here to a somewhat curious 
and not unimportant question in regard to the imme- 
diate origin of souls, in the case of individual human 
beings. If man is a compound being, consisting of a 
soul and body, and if the former is a distinct essence 
from the latter, and capable of existence inde- 
pendently of the body, may it not have lived before it 
became embodied? And if so, when is the soul united 
to the body? And if not pre-existent, are souls 
created one by one, as they are wanted for bodies 
conceived and in process of growth? or are they 
propagated with the body? 

These we say are both curious and important 
questions — curious because among the deep things of 
God and of nature, and important because of their 
bearing upon the question of the separate existence 
of souls, and also upon the doctrine of transmitted 
depravity. Indeed these questions often take the 
form of objections to the doctrine of the distinct exist- 
ence of human spirits. 

There are four distinct hypotheses upon this sub- 



30 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



ject: that souls are pro-created by the angels; that 
they are created by God, and pre-exist in another 
state before they appear here in the body ; that they 
are created by the Deity, at the time of their union 
with the body; and that they are propagated or trans- 
mitted from parent to child in accordance with certain 
laws as yet unknown to man.* 

Let us examine these hypotheses in order: 

I. The idea of angelic pro-creation is founded solely 
upon the similitude which is supposed to exist between 
angels and the souls of men. But the more we study 
the subject in the light of the Scriptures, the more 
clearly shall we see that the vast difference between 
human souls and angels, utterly precludes the notion 
that the former are the offspring of the latter. " This 
fancy," says Flavel, " needs not any industry to over- 
throw it ; for though it be certain there is a similitude 
and resemblance betwixt angels and souls, both being 
immaterial substances, yet angels neither propagate 
by generation, nor is it in their power to create the 
least fly or worm in the world, much less the soul of 
man, the highest, noblest, and most excellent being. 
Great power they have, but no creating power. That 
is God's incommunicable property. And pro-create 
our souls they did not, for they are spirits, yet are 
spirits of another species. "f 

II. The notion that all souls were created together 
and at once, as the angels are supposed to have been, 
and not one by one, as men are born into the world, 
has also had its advocates. The Brahmins believe in the 
pre-existence of souls, as well as in their transmigra- 

* Bogue/s Lectures. Vol. I. p. 258. 

t Treatise of the Soul of Man. (Ed. 1789,) p. 79. 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS 



31 



tion. " Of this opinion was Plato, who thought all 
human souls to be created together before their bodies, 
and placed in some glorious and suitable mansion, as 
the stars, till at last growing weary of heavenly, and 
falling in love with earthly things, for a punishment 
of that crime, they were cast into bodies, as into so 
many prisons." 

" Origen imbibed this notion of the pre-existence 
of souls. And upon this supposition it was, that 
Porphyry tells us in the life of Plotinus, he blushed 
as often as he thought of his being in a body, as a 
man that had lived in reputation and honor blushes, 
when he is lodged in prison. 

" The ground on which the stoics founded their 
opinion was, the great dignity and excellence of the 
soul, which inclined them to think they had never 
been degraded and abased as they are, by dwelling in 
such vile bodies, but for their faults ; and that it was 
for some former sin of theirs, that they slid down into 
gross matter, and were caught into a vital union with 
it ; whereas, had they not sinned, they had lived in 
celestial and splendid habitations, more suitable to 
their dignity."* 

So far as pre-existence, and sinning in a previous 
state are concerned, Dr. Edward Beecher has recently 
advocated substantially the same view. In order, as 
he supposes, to vindicate the divine character and at 
the same time account for the origin of evil, and the 
fall and depravity of our first parents, he supposes that 
they had enjoyed a probationary existence, before 
entering their bodies in Eden ; and that in this pre- 



Flavel, pp. 77-8. 



82 



THE* IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



existent state they had sinned and contracted a ten- 
dency to disobedience and a deep moral defilement. 
"By thus running back/' says Dr. B., " to a previous 
state, we can mark a sphere in which those principles 
were observed toward new-created minds which con- 
sist with the character of God as revealed in the Bible ; 
and. on those principles, we can account for all the 
native depravity and entire sinfulness of man ; and, as 
no testimony of God confines us to this world for the 
origin of human depravity, then if these things are so, 
the character of God and the general principles and 
parts of the system prove that sin did not originate 
here, but that this dispensation is merely a step in 
the great system of exposure by which God is to be 
disclosed, truth and holiness vindicated, and error, 
unbelief, and sin to be exposed, paralyzed and pun- 
ished forever.* 

Of the general theory of the pre-existence of souls, 
Mr. Flavel further says : "But this is a pure creature 
of fancy : for, (1.) No soul in the world is conscious 
to itself of such a pre-existence, nor can remember 
when it was owner of any other habitation than that 
it now dwells in.f (2.) Nor doth the scripture give 
us the least hint of any such thing."! 

III. The hypothesis that souls are created from 
time to time, for each individual body, is also beset 
with numerous difficulties. (1.) It involves the idea 

* Conflict of Ages. p. 488. A brief but excellent review of this fanci- 
ful theory may be found in the Ladies' Repository, for January and 
February, 1857. pp, 53,, 114. 

f For a curious paper on the seeming recollections of scenes and 
events of a previous life, see National Magazine for Sept., 1857, pp. 
208-271. 

J Treatise of the Soul, p. 78. 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS. 



33 



of continuous creation, which has no foundation in 
scripture. (2.) It is incompatible with the doctrine 
of inherent moral corruption, which is clearly taught in 
the Bible. How a pure spirit fresh from the hands 
of its Creator could come into the world tainted by 
sin, as the scriptures teach us that human souls are 
born, is more than we can understand. It certainly 
involves the idea of physical depravity, a great absur- 
dity, or of no depravity at all, unless souls go forth 
depraved from the hands of a holy God. (3.) It 
throw a shade over the divine character, by making 
God a partner in transgression, in the case of all 
illegitimate offspring ; for if he creates a soul for 
every human body begotten, either at or before its 
birth ; then even the profligate and the vile have 
power, while pursuing a course of sin, to control the 
creative acts of the Deity, and involve him as a party 
to their transgressions. An hypothesis which draws 
after it such terrible consequences, must, therefore, 
be abandoned as erroneous. 

But notwithstanding these and many other difficul- 
ties, the more common opinion, probably, among all 
orders of Christians, is, that souls are created, one 
by one, immediately by God. Many wise and good 
men have advocated this doctrine. It is the view 
taken by Flavel in his elaborate and generally ex- 
cellent treatise, who refers to Theodoret and Pemble 
as of the same opinion.* His theory of depravity is 
that " souls are neither pure nor impure as they come 
from the hand of the Creator. But if it [a question 
supposed] respect the condition and state in which 



3 



* Treatise, pp. 77, 79 



34 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



God created them, I answer with Baronius," says he: 
" they are created neither morally pure nor impure: 
they receive neither purity nor impurity from him, 
but only their naked essence, and the natural powers 
and properties flowing therefrom. He inspires not 
any impurity into them, for he cannot be the author 
of sin who is the avenger of it. Nor doth he create 
them in their original purity and rectitude ; for the 
sin of Adam lost that, and God justly withholds it 
from his posterity."* 

We quote this passage not to endorse either the 
doctrine or the argument, but rather to show to what 
a strange theory the writer was obliged to resort, to 
maintain his doctrine of immediate creation, in con- 
nection with the doctrine of natural depravity. And, 
as if not satisfied with the first solution of the diffi- 
culty, he immediately proceeds to show, virtually, 
that after all, moral defilement is derived from the 
body — the oft exploded theory of physical depravity. 

IV. The doctrine that souls are propagated by 
some mysterious, and yet natural laws of generation, 
seems more accordant with the Scriptures, and with 
the various physical and mental phenomena involved 
in the perpetuity of our species. It is an interesting 
faet, that although the creation of Eve was as much a 
miracle as that of Adam, no mention is made in his- 
tory of the event of the inspiration or infusion of 
the " breath of life" or spirit into her body, as was 
the case with that of Adam. Here is the narrative: 

"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the 
man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for 
him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall 

* Treatise, p. 84. 



THE PROPPGATIOX OF SOULS. 



35 



upon Adam, and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs, 
and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, 
which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a 
woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam 
said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my 
flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was 
taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his 
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : 
and they shall be one flesh." Gen. ii. 18-24. 

Would it be a forced construction of this passage, 
to say, that the omission of all reference to the infu- 
sion of a soul into the body of Eve, was designed to 
teach that her spirit was in some way propagated, in 
connection with the "rib/' and that, after the first 
instance, souls were no more to be breathed into 
bodies by a direct act of the Almighty, than bodies 
were to be formed complete out of the dust of the 
earth. 

The following pertinent remarks upon the general 
subject, are from the pen of Mr. Watson: — 

" A question, as to the transmission of this corrup- 
tion of nature from parents to children, has been de- 
bated among those who, nevertheless, admit the fact ; 
some contending, that the soul is ex traduce; others, 
that it is by immediate creation. It is certain that, 
as to the metaphysical part of this question, we can 
come to no satisfactory conclusion. The Scriptures, 
however, appear to be more in favor of the doctrine 
of traduction. "Adam begat a son in his own like- 
ness." "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh," 
which refers certainly to the soul as well as to the 
body. 

The fact also of certain dispositions and eminent 



36 * THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

faculties of the mind, being often found in families, 
appears to favor this notion ; though it may be 
plausibly said, that, as the mind operates by bodily* 
instruments, there may be a family constitution of the 
body, as there is of likeness, which may be more favor- 
able to the excitement and exertion of certain faculties 
than others. 

The usual argument against this traduction of the 
human spirit is, that the doctrine of its generation 
tends to materialism. But this arises from a mis- 
taken view of that in which the pro-creation of a 
human being lies, which does not consist in the pro- 
duction out of nothing of either of the parts of which 
the compound being, man, is constituted, but in 
uniting them substantially with one another. The 
matter of the body is not, then, first made, but dis- 
posed, nor can it be supposed that the soul is by that 
act first produced. 

That belongs to a higher power ; and then the only 
question is, whether all souls were created in Adam, 
and are transmitted by a law peculiar to themselves, 
which is always under the control of the will of that 
same watchful Providence, of whose constant agency 
in the production and ordering of the kinds sexes, 
and circumstances of the animal creation, we have 
abundant proof; or whether they are immediately 
created. The usual objection to the last notion is, 
that God cannot create an evil nature; but if our 
corruption is the result of privation, not of positive 
infection, the notion of the immediate creation of the 
soul is cleared of a great difficulty, though it is not 
wholly disentangled. 

"But the tenet of the soul's descent appears to have 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS. 



37 



most countenance from the language of Scripture, 
and it is no small confirmation of it, that when God 
designed to incarnate his own Son, he stepped out of 
the ordinary course, and formed a sinless human nature 
immediately, by the power of the Holy Ghost. "* 

" Since the reformation," says Knapp, "this theory 
has been more approved than any other, not only by the 
philosophers and naturalists, but also by the Lutheran 
church. Luther himself appeared much inclined to- 
wards it, although he did not declare himself dis- 
tinctly in favor of it. But in the " Formula Con- 
cordia," it was distinctly taught, that the soul, as 
well as the body, was propagated by parents in ordi- 
nary generation. The reason why this theory is so 
much preferred by theologians, is, that it affords the 
easiest solution of the doctrine of native depravity. 
If in the souls of our first progenitors, the souls of all 
their posterity existed potentially, and the souls of 
the former were polluted and sinful; those of the 
latter must be so too. This hypothesis is not how- 
ever free from objections; and it is very diffi cult to re- 
concile it with some philosophical opinions which are 
universally received, "f 

Mr. Wesley once believed in the immediate creation 
of souls, and so explained Heb. xii. 9, in his Notes 
on the New Testament. But in his journal for Feb. 
27, 1762, he says: — "I had a striking proof that 
God can teach by whom he will teach. A man full 
of words, but not of understanding, convinced me of 
what I could never see before, that anima ex traduce; 
[the soul is derived by propagation or traduction,] that 

* Institutes, in one vol. pp. 362, 363. 
f Lectures on Theology. Vol. I. p. 417. 



38 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



all the souls of his posterity, as well as their bodies, 
were in our first parents."* 

Under date of Oct. 25, 1763, he wrote as follows: 
"It maybe of use to insert part of a letter I received 
about this time: — 

"In reading your notes on Heb. xii., awhile since, 
I was struck with your exposition of the ninth verse : 
'Perhaps these expressions, fathers of our flesh, and 
Father of spirits, intimate that our earthly fathers are 
only the parents of our bodies; our souls not being 
derived from them, but rather created by the imme- 
diate power of God, and infused into the body from 
age to age.'f 

"But meeting with a curious old book, which asserts 
a contrary doctrine, I hope you will pardon my free- 
dom in transcribing, and begging your thoughts upon 
it. 

"'That souls are not immediately infused by God, 
but mediately propagated by the parent, is proved, 

1. From the Divine rest; And he rested on the seventh 
day from all the work which he had made; Gen. ii. 1: 

2. From the blessing mentioned Gen. i. 28 ; And God 
blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful and 
multiply ; for this does not relate to a part, but to the 
whole of man: 3. From the generation of Seth; And 
Adam begat a son in his oivn likeness, after his image; 
Gen. v. 3; for this image principally consisted in the 

* Works, Vol. IV. p. 115. 

j* After Mr. Wesley changed his opinions upon this subject, he struck 
this sentence from his Notes altogether, and substituting in its place the 
passage now standing in his Notes, which entirely evades the subject 
of the origin of human souls, except, so far as to say, that God is at 
some time, and in some way either directly or remotely, " the author, 
maintainer, and perfecter of our spiritual life." 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS. 



39 



soul: 4. From the procession of the soul from the 
parent, mentioned Gen. xlvi. 26; All the souls which 
came out of his loins: 5. From the very consideration 
of sin; for they are infused, (1.) Either pure, and then 
(I.) They will either be free from original sin, the 
primary seat of which is the soul ; and so God will be 
cruel in condemning the soul for what it is not guilty 
of ; or (II.) We must suppose the impure body to 
pollute the soul, which is absurd: or (2.) They are in- 
fused impure; and in that case, God will be the cause 
of impurity, which is impossible. This is further 
proved from the doctrine of regeneration; for that 
which is regenerated was also generated or begotten; 
but the whole man is regenerated, therefore, the whole 
man is generated. Compare John iii. 6. That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of 
the Spirit is spirit ; and Eph. iv. 23. And be renewed 
in the spirit of your mind. 

" ' That the human soul is propagated by the 
parents together with the body, is further proved, 
1. By the creation of Eve, whose soul is not said to 
have been breathed into her by God; 2. From the 
confession of David; Behold I was shapen in iniquity, 
and in sin did my mother conceive me; Psalm li. 5; 
which words cannot possibly relate to the body only; 
3. From our redemption : what Christ did not assume, 
he did not redeem; if, therefore, he did not assume 
his soul, together with his body, from the Virgin Mary, 
our souls are not redeemed by Christ ; which is evi- 
dently false: 4. From similar expressions, Job. x. 8. 
Thy hands have made and fashioned me; and Psalm 
cxxxix. 13, For thou hast p?ossessed my reins : thou 
hast covered me in my mother s womb ; where God is 



40 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



said to have formed us with his own hands, which yet 
is no otherwise done than mediately by generation : 
5. From the nature of the begetter and the begotten: 
they are of one species : but the man who begets con- 
sisting of a soul and body, and a body without a soul, 
are not one species. 

" ' Again, supposing the soul to be infused by the 
Deity, either, 1. It will be free from sin. and so God 
himself will be accused as guilty of injustice, in con- 
demning a pure spirit, and infusing it into an impure 
body : or, 2. He will be accounted the author of the 
seul's pollution, by uniting it, a pure spirit, to an im- 
pure body, in order that it should be polluted:* 3. A 
double absurdity will follow upon the supposition; 
viz. (1.) The organical parts of man only will be 
slaves to sin: (2.) The immortal spirit would be cor- 
rupted by the mortal body: (3.) Or, if the soul, being 
thus infused, be polluted by sin, it will follow, that 
Grod is expressly assigned to be the cause of sin; 
which is the highest blasphemy.' " 

The general doctrine of the above extract is more 
or less sustained by the analogies of vegetable repro- 
duction. The seed consists not merely of the incipient 
organization of the plant or tree that shall be, but 
also of a mysterious principle of life, proceeding from 
the parent, and propagated in the seed. Of that 
vitalizing principle we know as little as of the essence 
of the soul itself: and can no more comprehend how 
that principle can be transmitted in a small and dry 
seed, detached from the parent bough, than we can 

* We by no means endorse the doctrine of this passage, that the body 
itself can be the seat of moral pollution. Matter can have no moral 
character. 



THE PROPAGATION OF SOULS. 



41 



comprehend how souls may be propagated by natural 
generation. The one we know to be true, mysterious 
as it is; and the other is not to be doubted merely be- 
cause it is incomprehensible.* 

* One of the best papers we have ever read, on the question, "Is the 
soul transmitted or created f" may be found in the Ladies 1 Repository 
for March, 1857. That the soul is transmitted is thus argued. 1. From 
hereditary depravity. 2. From the completion of the work of creation 
prior to the Sabbath. 3. From the want of discrimination in the Scrip- 
tures between the origin of the soul, and that of the body. 4. From the 
creation of Eve. 5. From the transmission of psychical peculiarities. 
6. From the analogies of the animal and vegetable kingdom. 7. From 
the Incarnation of Christ, and 8. From the fact of a common humanity. 
The curious reader will do well to look up and read the articles entire. 



42 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NATURE OF DEATH. 

Let us now return from the seeming digression of 
the last chapter. 

Having shown in chapter third, that the natural 
life of Adam began with the union of his spiritual and 
material natures, we shall now proceed to show that 
it was to end with a separation of these same natures. 

I. The original decree of death, Gren. iii. 19, im- 
plies only the death of the body. "In the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return 
unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for 
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." 
Here it is plain, that only so much of man as was 
"dust," and "taken out of the ground," was doomed 
to return to dust again. But the "breath of lives" 
breathed into Adam by his Creator, was not "dust," 
nor "taken out of the ground." It had therefore no 
affinity for the material clod, and was not doomed to 
return to the dust with the body at death. 

Life is real, life is earnest; 
And the grave is not its goal : 
"Dust thou art — to dust returnest/' 
Was not spoken of the soul. 

II. Answering to the above view, we find that 
wherever the fulfilment of this decree is spoken of in 



THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



43 



the Scriptures, it is described as taking effect upon 
the "dust" or body only; while the spirit is released 
from the body and survives its dissolution. Take the 
following, as examples in point: — 

Eccl. vii. 8. " There is no man that hath power over 
the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power 
in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that 
war : neither shall wickedness deliver those that are 
given to it." This passage clearly refers to death; 
and the expression "to retain the spirit," clearly im- 
plies that in death the spirit departs from the body. 
It cannot be "retained" either by the burial of the 
body or by any other means. 

Eccl. xii. 7. "Then shall the dust return to the 
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God 
who gave it." The decay of the mortal body had 
been traced step by step through its successive stages 
of decline. The eye had grown dim ; the grinders 
had ceased because they were few; the voice had 
failed; and the almond tree had come to flourish; and 
at length the silver cord is loosed, and the golden 
bowl broken. But instead of saying, "then the aged 
man dies," the same idea is expressed in the language 
already cited — "then shall the dust return to the 
earth as it was." The allusion to Gen. iii. 19, is 
unmistakable; and it is a most lucid comment upon 
that passage. It shows us most clearly the scope 
and design of the decree, "dust thou art, and unto 
dust shalt thou return;" viz., that the "dust" or body 
only is to "return to the earth as it was," while "the 
spirit returns unto God who gave it." 

III. To the same effect is Job xxxiv. 15. "If he 
set his heart upon man, if he gather into himself his 



44 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



spirit and his breath : all flesh shall perish together, 
and man shall turn again unto dust." Here observe, 
that contrary to the theory of our modern "Bible 
Deists/' the "spirit" and "breath" of man are two 
distinct things: and when God "gathers these unto 
himself.'" man "turns again unto dust."' Surely it is 
not the spirit, which God gathers unto himself, that 
returns to dust : but the body, and that only. 

IV. In Eccl. iii. 19. 20. we are taught that death 

7 7 O 

as inevitably awaits man. as it does the beasts which 
perish. "For that which befalleth the sons of men 
befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as 
the one dieth, so dieth the other: yea, they have all 
one breath: so that a man hath no pre-eminence above 
a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all 
are of the dust, and all turn to dust again/' But lest 
it should be understood that the death of man is in all 
respects like the death of a beast, it is immediately 
added. "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth 
upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth doivn- 
wardto the earth?"' They do not die alike. Their 
bodies die thus: "as the one dieth so dieth the other." 
"All turn to dust again."' But while "the spirit of 
the beast." like his body, "goeth downward to the 
earth." the spirit of the man "goeth upward." It is 
not of earth, and may not perish with the mortal 
body. 

V. The numerous scriptural descriptions of death as 
the "giving up of the ghost " convey the idea of the 
separation of the ghost or spirit from the body. 
Abraham "gave up the ghost," Gen. xxv. 8; Isaac 
"gave up the ghost," Gen. xxxv. 29; Jacob "yielded 
up the ghost," Gen. xlix. 33 : and " when Jesus had 



THE NATURE OE DEATH. 



45 



cried with a loud voice, he said. Father, into thy 
hands I commend my spirit : and having said this he 
gave up the ghost." Luke xxiii. 4b\ "But man dieth 
and wasteth away. yea. man giveth up the ghost, and 
where is he'.'" Job xiv. 10. Sapphira "fell down and 
yielded up the ghost," Acts v. 10 ; and so throughout 
the Scriptures; the giving up of the ghost is a com- 
mon phrase to signify dying. Xow whatever may be 
meant by the " ghost " or spirit, (a point that will be 
considered elsewhere.) it is evident from the above 
passages, that death is a "giving up" or departure of 
the spirit from the body. 

YI. That death is a separation of the soul from 
the body, is clearly implied. 1 Kings xvii. 20-22, 
where Elijah prayed that the son of the widow of 
Zarephath might be restored to life. "And he cried 
unto the Lord, and said. 0 Lord my God. hast thou 
also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, 
by slaying her son': And he stretched himself upon 
the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and 
said. 0 Lord my God. I pray thee, let this child's 
soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the 
voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into 
him again, and he revived.'' 

Here instead of praying that the child's lungs 
might be inflated with air. the prophet prays that his 
"sour' might re-enter the lifeless body: and in 
answer to the prayer "the soul of the child came into 
him again, and he revived." Though he had once 
crossed the Jordan of death, and all its bitterness was 
past ; though he had joined the blood-washed company 
in Paradise, and was now a companion of angels and 
glorified saints : yet, in answer to prayer he is re- 



4(3 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



manded back to earth, to re-inhabit his mortal tene- 
ment. The race of probation is again renewed, and 
the home of immortals can only be regained, by pass- 
ing a second time the dark gateway of eternity. 

VII. When the ruler's daughter was raised to life, 
Luke viii. 49-55, it is said, "And her spirit [Gr. 
pneumd\ came again, and she arose straightway. &c, :" 
implying that in dying her spirit had left the body, 
and must needs "come again" before she could again 
be restored to life. 

YIII. When David learned that his beloved child was 
dead. 2 Sam. xii. 19-23, he ceased to weep and fast; 
and when questioned respecting his singular conduct, 
he said, "But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? 
Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but 
he shall not return to me;"' — language plainly indi- 
cating the belief that in some sense his child had gone 
hence, whence he could not return ; and that the bereft 
father expected to depart also — to "go to him" — when 
this mortal life should terminate. 

IX. The departure of the soul at death is compared 
to the escape of a bird from the hands of the fowler. 
Ps. xc. 10. "The days of our years are threescore 
years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be 
fourscore years, yet is their strength, labor and sor- 
row: for it is soon cut off, and we fly away ' ? * A 

* The opinions of the uninspired Jewish writers a few centuries before 
Christ, may he gathered from the following passage from the Apoc- 
rypha : " But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and 
there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the universe they 
seem to die : and their departure is taken for misery, and their going 
from us to be utter destruction : but they are in peace. For though 
they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immor- 
tality.'' Wisdom, iii. 14. 



THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



47 



very singular expression for a writer to use, who be- 
lieved that man has no distinct spiritual nature, and 
that the soul becomes extinct with the dissolution of 
the body. 

X. 2 Cor. v. 6-9. "Therefore we are always confi- 
dent, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the 
body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by 
faith, not by sight ; we are confident, I say, and 
willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be 
present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, 
whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." 
What does St. Paul here mean by " at home in the 
body," and "absent from the body," if the soul and 
body are not essentially distinct, and if death is not a 
separation of the one from the other ? What Materi- 
alist would ever employ such language in reference to 
himself or the event of death ? And in what sense 
was Paul "absent from the Lord" while "at home in 
the body?" How must he be " absent from the body" 
before he could be "present with the Lord? Is not 
this its obvious meaning; that previously to death he 
could not be with Christ, because he had "passed into 
the heavens:" but that at death his soul would leave 
the body, and ascend to Paradise, there to be "pre- 
sent" with Christ for ever? 

XL The inspired writers represent the human body 
as a "tabernacled or frail dwelling-place; and death 
as the putting off of this tabernacle. Thus St. Paul, 
2 Cor. v. 1-4: "Lor we know that y if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly de- 
siring to be clothed upon with our house which is from 



48 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be 
found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do 
groan, being burdened; not for that we would be un- 
clothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be 
swallowed up of life." 

So also, St. Peter, 2d Epistle, i. 12-15. " Where- 
fore I will not be negligent to put you always in re- 
membrance of these things, though ye know them, and 
be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it 
meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you 
up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that 
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our 
Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will 
endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to 
have these things always in remembrance." 

The literal tabernacle here referred to, was the gor- 
geous tent in which was the ark of the covenant, and 
the symbol of the Divine presence, resting " between 
the cherubim." In the journeying of the Israelites, 
this tabernacle was often taken down, or "put off" 
from over the ark, while the ark of the covenant, the 
sacred heart and centre of the tabernacle, remaining 
unchanged, was borne on to the next station. To 
this practice the apostle alludes in the text, as illus- 
trative of death — the putting off or decay of the body, 
while the soul, like the ark of God, moves on to the 
next stage of being, where the body, like the taber- 
nacle, shall in due time clothe it again and for ever. 

In these passages, then, the " tabernacle" to be 
" dissolved," and the dwellers in the tabernacle are 
as distinct as the house and its occupant. And that 
by the " putting off" his " tabernacle," (as Christ had 
shown him, John xxi. 18, 19;) Peter meant his u de- 



THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



49 



cease," is equally clear. But how can the use of 
such figures be justified upon the supposition that man 
has no immaterial spirit that will outlive the body? 
In what sense are we in a tabernacle, so that death is 
the putting off of our tabernacle, if it be not that 
death is the separation of soul and body? 

XII. St. Paul was wont to describe death as a 
"departure " to occur when he should cease "to abide 
in the flesh," and without which he could not "be 
with Christ." Thus Phil. i. 21-24. "Tor to me to 
live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the 
flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall 
choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, 
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ : 
which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh 
is more needful for you." 

What does the apostle here mean by "'abiding in 
the flesh," if it be not living in the body? And what 
by "departing," if it be not dying and ascending to 
heaven? Is he not obviously speaking of death? 
And how could he "be with Christ" after death, if 
his whole being went down together into the tomb, to 
dwell in silence and corruption to the general resur- 
rection? Though "to live was Christ," yet "to die 
was gain;" not because he would find the oblivion of 
ages in the grave, but because he would ascend " to 
be with Christ" in the heavenly world, which is "far 
better" than the ^ost intimate spiritual fellowship 
with him in this mortal life. It is scarcely possible 
for language more clearly to teach the doctrine that 
death is a separation of body and spirit, and a de- 
parture of the latter from this world. 

The same doctrine is taught in numerous other 
4 



50 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Scriptures, as, for instance 2 Tim. iv. 6, where the 
apostle says, " I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand/' <fcc. 

Also, Gen. xxxv. "And it came to pass as her 
soul was in departing, (for she died,) &c." It was re- 
vealed to Simeon that he should not see death till he 
had seen the Lord's Christ ; and when he saw the in- 
fant Redeemer, he said, " Lord, now lettest thou thy 
servant depart in peace, according to thy word." To 
him, also, death was a departure, which could not be 
true in any sense if the soul died with the body, and 
was not separated from it, 

XIII. Jacob is said to have been gathered unto his 
people at the moment of death, Gen. xlix. 33, though 
his body was not buried with the bodies of his ances- 
tors till months afterward. 

"And when Jacob had made an end of commanding 
his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and 
yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." 

Jacob died in Goshen in Egypt, but was buried in 
the land of Canaan. They were forty days embalm- 
ing the body, and the mourning in Egypt continued 
thirty days longer. Joseph then obtained permission 
of Pharaoh to go and bury his father. Ch. 1. 3-6. 
How long they were going is not stated; but they 
mourned seven days more at the threshing-floor of 
Atad, ch. L 10, so that at least eighty days elapsed 
between the alleged gathering unto his people, and 
the burial of the body in the cave of Machpelah in 
Canaan. How, then, was he "gathered unto his 
people'' at the time of his death, if it was not by the 
departure of his soul to Paradise, the home of Isaac, 
his father, and his grand-father Abraham? 



THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



51 



The testimony that this place bears to the immor- 
tality of the soul, and to its existence separate from 
the body, should not be lightly regarded. In the 
same moment in which Jacob is said to have gathered 
up his feet into the bed, and to have expired, it is 
added, and was gathered unto his people. It is certain 
that his body was not then gathered to his people, nor 
till seven weeks after ; and it is not likely that a cir- 
cumstance so distant in point both of time and place, 
would have been thus anticipated, and associated with 
facts that took place at that moment. I cannot help, 
therefore, considering this an additional evidence for 
the immateriality of the soul ; and that it was intended 
by the Holy Spirit to carry this grand and consola- 
tory sentiment, that when a holy man ceases to live 
"among his fellows, his soul becomes an inhabitant of 
another world and is joined to the spirits of just men 
made perfect."* 

XIV. That death is a mere separation of soul and 
body, is further evident from James ii. 26. — " For as 
the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without 
works is dead also." Here the apostle refers for the 
illustration of his subject, to a fact acknowledged by 
all professing Christians of his day, viz : that the body 
was " dead" when it was " without the spirit;" or, in 
other words, that death is a separation of the soul and 
body of man. 

Such, according to the infallible testimony of the 
word of God, is the nature of death. The original 
decree consigns "the dust" only to the dust; while 
"the spirit returns to Grod who gave it." Though 
" man shall turn again unto dust," like the beast, his 

* Dr. A. Clarke's notes on the passage. 



52 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



" spirit and his breath" shall his Maker " gather unto 
himself." Death is "the giving up of the ghost," 
and the dead are not restored to life, unless their 
" souls come into them again." We "fly away" at 
death, and must be " absent from the body" to be 
u present with the Lord." We are now dwelling in 
" earthly houses of this tabernacle" which we shall 
" put off" at death ; to pass, if Christians, to " a house 
not made with hands eternal in the heavens." We 
now " abide in the flesh," but are destined to " depart 
and be with Christ ; which is far better." Death will 
sever the mystic tie that binds the spirit to a material 
body ; and these two essentially different natures will 
part company till the resurrection morning. Can we 
better conclude this chapter than by quoting the fol- 
lowing beautiful lines from Mrs. Sigourney ? 

FAREWELL OF THE SOUL TO THE BODY. 

Companion dear ! the hour draws nigh 

The sentence speeds — to die, to die. 

So long in mystic union held, 

So close with strong" embrace compelled, 

How can'st thou bear the dread decree, 

That strikes thy clasping nerves from me ? 

— — To Him who on this mortal shore, 

The same encircling vestment wore, 

To Him I look, to Him I bend, 

To Him thy shuddering frame commend. 

If I have ever caus'd thee pain, 

The throbbing heart, the burning brain, 
With cares and vigils turn'd thee pale, 
And scorn'd thee when thy strength did fail — 
Forgive ! forgive ! — thy task doth cease, 
Friend ! Lover ! — let us part in peace. 
If thou didst sometimes check my force, 
Or, trifling, stay mine upward course, 
Or lure from heaven my wavering trust, 
Or bore my drooping wing to dust — 



THE NATURE OF DEATH. 



I blame thee not, the strife is done, 
I know thou wert the weaker one, 
The vase of earth, the trembling clod, 
Constrained to hold the breath of G-od. 

Well hast thou in my service wrought, 

Thy brow hath mirror'd forth my thought, 
To wear my smile thy lips hath glow'd, 
Thy tear, to speak my sorrow, flowed, 
Thine ear hath borne me rich supplies 
Of sweetly varied melodies, 
Thy hands my prompted deeds have done, 

Thy feet upon my errands run ■ 

Yes, thou hast marked my bidding well, 
Faithful and true ! farewell, farewell. 



54 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE OF SOULS BETWEEN DEATH AND 
THE RESURRECTION. 

The last chapter was devoted mainly to a single 
point — the nature of death ; — the object being to show 
that according to the Scriptures, which are our only 
guide upon this subject, death is but the separation of 
the two natures of man, the body and the spirit. So 
far as this point is established, it goes also to estab- 
lish the proposition argued in Chapter III., viz : that 
man has a two-fold nature, a body and a spirit. In like 
manner, whatever tends to prove that man has a 
conscious existence after death, will go equally to 
establish the doctrine of purely spiritual existence, 
and of the two-fold nature of man ; as also, that death 
is but the separation of these two natures, and not the 
extinction of either. 

Until quite recently, it has never been necessary to 
enter into a formal argument to prove the immortality 
of the soul from the Bible, with any who professed to 
believe its teachings. But within a few years past, 
certain persons who, by a system of literalism, had so 
interpreted the Bible as ta prove, as they thought, 
that the world would end on a given day ; by the 
same principles of interpretation applied to the sub- 
ject of a future state, have demonstrated, as we 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



55 



think with equal uncertainty, that man has no soul 
distinct from the body, or capable of existence after 
the body dies. It would surprise no one to find this 
sentiment in the writings of Hobbs or Hume ; but, to 
find men professing to be Christians, and yet attempt- 
ing to prove this fundamental principle of Deism from 
the Bible, may well excite astonishment. It is in 
view of this theological monstrosity that we have thus 
far so carefully examined the Scriptures step by step, 
and adduced their unequivocal and overwhelming testi- 
mony in proof of the immortality of man. 

But, before we proceed further in this examination, 
it may be well to call to mind the fact that the Jews, 
among whom Christ and his apostles taught, were in 
the main firm believers in the soul's immortality. 
They were divided into three principal sects — the 
Pharisees, the Saddueees and the Essenes. 

The Pharisees held to the immortality of the soul 
and the existence of angels. Hence when it is said, 
Acts xxiii. 8, that " the Saddueees say there is no re- 
surrection, neither angel nor spirit," it is added, "but 
the Pharisees confess both. " It is true that some of 
them held to the transmigration of souls from one 
body to another,* but this in no way affected the 
simple question of purely spiritual existence, and the 
soul's immortality. In his discourse to the Greeks 
concerning Hades, Josephus says, " This is the dis- 
course concerning Hades, wherein the souls of all men 
are confined until a proper season which God hath 
determined, when he will make a resurrection of all 
men from the dead. * * * And to every body 
shall its own soul be restored." This was beyond all 

* Home's Introduction. Vol. I. p. 144. 



56 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



question the prevailing belief among the Jews, at the 
time of our Lord and his apostles — a belief professedly 
drawn from their sacred writings. If, therefore, this 
doctrine was erroneous, our Saviour and his apostles 
ought so to have spoken and written as to have con- 
demned it ; or at least to have given it no counte- 
nance. But instead of this, we hear St. Paul ex- 
claiming on one occasion, long after his conversion, 
" I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee," Acts xxiii. 6. 

The Sadducees denied the immortality of the soul, 
if not all purely spiritual existence. Josephus says, 
" the doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that SOULS 
die with the bodies."* "They take away the 
belief of the immortal existence of the soul, and the 
punishments and rewards of Hades. "f St. Luke 
says, Acts xxiii. 8, that "'the Sadducees say that 
there is no resurrection, neithei* angel nor spirit. "J 
On this point, therefore, those who now teach that 
there is no "spirit" distinct from the animal nature, 
and that, consequently, the soul dies with the body, 
are only reproducing the oft refuted doctrines of the 
ancient Sadducees. 

The Essenes, like the Pharisees, "held, among 
other tenets, the immortality of the soul, (though they 
denied the resurrection of the body,) the existence of 
angels, and a state of future rewards and punish- 
ments ;"§ so that the Sadducees excepted, who were 

* Antiquities, b. xviii. g 4. f Wars, b. viii. g 14. 

% "Neither angel. That there arc no angels. They deny the exist- 
ence of good or bad angels. ' Nor Spirit,' or soul. They held that 
there was nothing but matter. They were materialists, and supposed 
that all the operations which we ascribe to mind, could be traced to 
some modification of matter. 1 ' Barnes' Xotes. 

$ See Home's Introduction, Vol. I. p. 146. 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



57 



but an inconsiderable sect,* the whole Jewish nation, 
among whom Christ and his apostles went " preach- 
ing the kingdom of God." believed in the immortality 
of the soul, and in future rewards and punishments. 
This fact will enable us the better to understand the 
design of the Xew Testament writers, in the use of 
the language employed by them. Let us see, then, 
if they have not taught, and did not design to teach 
the doctrine of the soul's immortality. 

I. All those scriptures cited in the preceding 
chapter to show that the death of man is a mere 
separation of the soul from the body, imply also the 
conscious existence of the soul in its disembodied state, 
and its immortality. If the spirit " returns to God who 
gave it." when "the dust returns to the earth;" if 
it "goeth upward," "flies away," "puts off" its 
" earthly house of this tabernacle;" and "departs to 
be with Christ," it has proved itself immortal by pass- 
ing unhurt the vale of death#and extending its exist- 
ed c 

ence forward into a region where death is forever un- 
known. And unless we suppose it possible that the 
soul should live on forever in a state of unconscious- 
ness, the idea of a future and immortal existence 
necessarily involves the idea that such existence will 
be one of conscious memory and reflection, and of 
endless joy or sorrow. 

II. When the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses 
in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, he said, 
"I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob," Exodus iii. 2, 6; and when the 
Sadducees encountered our Lord, respecting the resur- 



* "This doctrine is received but by a few." Josephus Ant. b. xviii. 



58 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

rection, Luke xx. 27, 37, he said to them, " Now that 
the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, 
when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and 
thaGod of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is 
not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live 
unto him." 

Jehovah appeared to Moses in the bush 1491 years 
before Christ, Abraham died B. C. 1821 ; Isaac B. 
C. 1716 ; and Jacob B. C. 1689 ; consequently, at 
that time (B. C. 1491) Abraham had been dead 330 
years, Isaac 225 years, and Jacob 198 years. And 
yet, God declared himself to be the God of these three 
persons who had long been dead. 

The argument of our Lord based upon this passage 
is this: God " is not the God of the dead," or of 
those who are extinct or annihilated. But God was 
at that time the God of Abraham, and the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 

Therefore, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must still have 
been alive. And this logical deduction from the premi- 
ses laid down, is supported by the plain declaration of 
our Lord — " for all live unto him." We talk of 
the death of man, because we see the " earthly house" 
dissolved ; but it is only an illusion. 

" There is no death ; what seems such, is transition." 

The body dies, but the soul survives death ; so that 
he who is the God of the living only, is still the God 
of the departed, because " all live unto him." 

The bearing of this quotation of our Lord upon the 
subject of the resurrection of the dead is obvious. 
The Sadducees denied all future existence. They 
held that when a man died all life both of soul and 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



59 



body became extinct together, and that neither would 
ever be reproduced. With them, therefore, the two 
doctrines — the immortality of the soul and the resur- 
rection of the dead — stood or fell together ; and to 
prove that the souls of men live after death, was 
effectually to overthrow the system of the Sadducees, 
and silence their objections to the resurrection of the 
body. If any life beyond the grave could be proved 
from the Pentateuch, the authority of which they pro- 
fessed to revere, their theory was in ruins, and the 
resurrection of the body was established. 

III. It is said, Luke xxiii. 42, 43, that the dying 
thief upon the cross said to Jesus, " Lord, remember 
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus 
said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt 
thou be with me in Paradise." It is obvious that the 
thief expected soon to die. Indeed there was and 
could have been no hope of escape. It is equally 
certain that the prevailing belief among the Jews at 
this time was, that the soul left the body at death, 
and went to Hades or the world of spirits, to return 
again at the general resurrection. This was no doubt 
the belief of the thief when he said, " Lord, remember 
me, etc." 

The term "Paradise" signifies pleasure or delight, 
and is used in the New Testament to signify the 
abode of the spirits of the righteous between death 
and the resurrection. St. Paul was caught up to 
Paradise, 2 Cor. xii. 4 ; and when the Spirit would in- 
cite believers to holy living by the promise of eternal 
life, he says, " To him that overcometh will I give to 
eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
Paradise of God;" Rev. ii. 7. Now, the promise of 



60 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the Saviour was, that the thief should be with him in 
Paradise that day ; and, as Paradise is the place of 
separate souls, to which Paul was caught up, where 
grows the tree of life, the purport of the whole is, that 
according to the prevailing belief of the separate ex- 
istence of souls implied in the prayer of the dying 
but penitent thief, he should be with Christ that day 
in a place of happiness. If the Saviour meant simply 
to say that they would both soon be in the grave, it 
was no news to the thief, and no answer to his prayer. 
And if Paradise meant simply the place of the dead — 
a " paradise" of unconscious non-existence — what 
kind of a " remembrance" was that which the dying 
malfactor obtained ? and what better off was he who 
repented and prayed, than he who railed and was for- 
gotten ? The passage can have but one meaning, 
therefore; and that is, that the soul of the dying thief 
should be saved ; and should meet the human soul 
of Christ, which he was about to commend to his 
Father's hands, in the abode of forgiven and glorified 
spirits. 

IV. The conscious existence of the soul after death, 
is clearly taught in the parable of the rich man, and 
Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19-31. We say parable, though 
the same doctrine is taught whether we regard the 
account as a parable, or as a veritable history. In 
either case, the souls of the dead are represented as 
living, talking and remembering, being " comforted" 
or " tormented" after death. The rich man "died, and 
was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in 
torments." " The beggar died, and was carried by 
the angels to Abraham's bosom." Now what does 
this u comfort" and " torment" after death — this 



CONSCIOUS BEIXG AFTER DEATH. 



61 



reference to the "life-time" of Dives as then past — 
the request that Lazarus be sent back to earth, and 
the plea that "if one went unto them from the dead, 
they will repent'' — indeed, what does this whole narra- 
tive teach, if it be not that the soul lives after the 
body dies, and is happy or miserable in another 
world ? 

Let any one turn to this narrative, and read it 
carefully over, verse after verse, and if he does not 
find there the conscious existence of souls after death, 
he can find it in no creed, or essay, or argument 
whatever. Language could scarcely teach that doc- 
trine more plainly ; and the mind that can misin- 
terpret or pervert such language, would pervert any 
language that could be employed. 

L^pon the subject of the locality of human spirits in 
the unseen state, Bishop Horsley has the following 
observations : — 

" The soul existing after death, and separate from 
the body, though of a nature immaterial, must be in 
some place ; for however metaphysicians may talk of 
space as one of the adjuncts of body, as if nothing 
but gross sensible body could be limited to a place, 
to exist without relation to space seems to be one of 
the incommunicable perfections of the Divine Being ; 
and it is hardly to be conceived that any created 
spirit, of however high an order, can be without 
locality, or without such determination of its existence 
at any given time to some certain place ; that it shall 
be true to say of it, ' Here it is, and not elsewhere.' "* 

V. Our Saviour teaches, Matt. x. 28, that the soul 
cannot he killed — that though men can kill the body, 

* Horsley's Sermons, Vol. II. pp. 89, 90 



62 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



they cannot kill the soul. " And fear not them which 
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." The 
soul is not the body, nor the body the soul ; so that 
while men are able to kill the one, they are not able 
to kill the other. But if the soul was a simple result 
of animal organization — the operations of the brain — 
as materialism teaches — then whoever killed the body, 
would, at the same time kill the soul. But so dis- 
tinct are they, and so do they differ as to their mor- 
tality, that while men are " able to kill the body," 
they are "not able to kill the soul." That ethe- 
real nature lives still, though the body dies. The 
poor material casket may be wasted, and wrecked, and 
smothered up in the dust from whence it came. 

Yet not thus buried, or extinct, 

The vital spark shall lie : 

For in life's wreck that spark shall rise, 

To seek its kindred sky. 

And if those who are able to kill the body are not 
able to kill the soul, how say some among us that the 
body and soul are the same, and that to kill the one 
is, in all cases, to kill the other also ? 

VI. St. Paul teaches 1 Thess. v. 9, 10, that 
whether the righteous live or die, they are to live with 
Christ. " For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, 
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, [that is 
live or die] we should live together with him." 
Even if they " sleep" they are nevertheless to " live," 
and "to be with Christ, which is far better." 

For there is no sleep, no grave so deep, 
That can hold the human soul. 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 63 



''Neither life nor death" can separate the good 
man from his everlasting portion in Jesus Christ. 

VII. In the account of Christ's transfiguration, 
Matt. xvii. 3, we are told that "there appeared unto 
him Moses and Elias talking unto him." Elias was 
translated without seeing death,' nine hundred and 
twenty-eight years before, 2 Kings 2d chapter; and 
Moses DIED on Mount Nebo fourteen hundred and 
eighty-three years before. " So Moses, the servant 
of the Lord, died there, in the land of Moab — and he 
[Jehovah] buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, 
over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth the 
place of his sepulchre unto this day." Deut. xxxiv. 5. 

Here notice, first, that Moses was dead and buried. 
In the second place, it is certain that, at the time of 
the transfiguration his body had not been raised from 
the dead. St. Paul declares, Acts xxvi. 23, that 
"the prophets and Moses" had taught, "that Christ 
should suffer, and that he should be the first that 
should rise from the dead." In the first epistle of 
Paul to the Corinthians, xv. 20, he declares that 
Christ had become "the first fruits of them that slept ;" 
and Col. i. 18, he styles him "the first born from the 
dead; that in all things he might have the pre-emi- 
nence." The Revelator also styles him "the first- 
begotten of the dead," Rev. i. 5. 

Though several had been restored from death to 
life prior to the crucifixion, no one of them was raised 
to immortality. Of the subjects of the resurrection 
proper it can be said, "neither shall they die any 
more;" but this was not the case with the widow's son 
raised by Elijah; nor with the son of the widow of 
Nam, nor with Lazarus. These all died again. 



64 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Never until Christ burst the bars of death, -was a dead 
human body raised to life and immortality. And as 
the transfiguration was before the crucifixion and 
resurrection, it is certain that the body of Moses had 
not been raised from the dead. 

"What was it. then, that appeared on mount Tabor, 
and talked with Christ ? — that which Matthew calls 
" Moses?" It was not the body of Moses, for that 
had not been raised from death, but still slept "in a 
valley in the land of Moab." It must, therefore, 
have been his spirit, unless he had some other nature 
beside body and spirit, that might with propriety be 
called " Moses." * 

Here, then, we have the spirit of Moses, with 
Christ and Elias on the summit of Tabor, near fifteen 
centuries after his body died, and while it yet slum- 
bered in its unknown resting-place, where it doubtless 
sleeps unto this day. It is certain, therefore, that 
the soul can and does survive the death of the body; 
and can live, and think, and even "talk" if necessary, 
ages after its " earthly house" has crumbled back to 
dust. 

VIII. The Scriptures uniformly teach that the 
righteous enter upon at least an earnest of their 
eternal reward immediately after death. The heavenly 
Canaan, like the earthly, is but just beyond Jordan. 

When the good man yields his breath, 

(For the good man never dies,) 
Bright beyond the vale of death, 

Lo ! the land of promise lies. 

For his soul to "depart" is to "be with Christ." 
Phil. i. 23. Though he " sleep" or die, he lives 

* See Macknight on Heb. xi. 40 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



65 



together with Christ, 1 Thess. v. 10. Lazarus died, 
and was carried at once to Abraham's bosom. Luke 
xvi. 22. When the earthly house is dissolved, we 
enter that not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. 

To be absent from the body is to be present with 
the Lord. 2 Cor. v. 7. " Blessed are the dead which 
die in the Lord from henceforth. " Rev. xiv. 18. 
"Gr. aparti. From this time; now, immediately 
They have not to sleep in the grave for perhaps 
thousands of years, a long and dreamless parenthesis 
of being, — before their heavenly joys begin ; but enter 
at once upon their glorious reward. 

W r e know when the silver cord is loosed, 

And the veil is rent away, 
Not long and dark shall the passage be, 

To the realms of endless day. 

The eye that shuts in the mortal hour, 

Shall open the next in bliss; 
The welcome shall sound in the heavenly world, 

Ere the farewell is hushed in this. 

" The transition is doubtless instantaneous. It is 
no tiresome walk down through a lonely, dark valley; 
it is no weary flight upward, as the eagle mounts, 
higher and higher; but no sooner is a believer's soul 
disembodied, than it is in Paradise. The partition 
once broken down, what shall hinder an immediate 
view of all beyond? And oh, what a morning is that 
day-break of glory ! The sun of righteousness shines 
in all its brightness. It is the effulgence of Christ's 
person which lights up that whole far-stretching world, 
and sheds a quickening radiance on every resident 

*I>r. A. Clarke. 

5 



66 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



there. If, two thousand years before Christ's coming 
on earth, Abraham rejoiced to see his day, what must 
be the joy of seeing him as he now is, at the right 
hand of majesty, in the heavens ! 

"Stray beams of his lustre often fall on the dying 
believer before his soul leaves its tenement. ' This 
is heaven begun,' said Rev. Thomas Scott; 4 1 have 
done with darkness, forever — forever. Satan is van- 
quished. Nothing now remains but salvation, with 
eternal glory — eternal glory.' 

"Come to the veranda of a Braminic temple. In 
the last spasms of Asiatic cholera, Gordon Hall cries, 
4 Glory, glory, glory!' and he 

1 Passed through Glory's morning gate, 
And walked in Paradise/ 

" 4 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from 
henceforth!' Blessed are the dead — not survivors, 
not the most favored of those who remain here, still 
sinning and repenting, and so imperfectly serving 
God — but blessed are the dead in Christ who have 
ceased from sin, are made perfect in holiness, and 
have passed into Paradise."* 

'•'Life makes the soul dependent on the dust, 
Death gives her wings to mount above the spheres. 
* ********* 
Death wounds to cure; — we fall, — we rise, — we reign! 
Spring from our fetters, fasten in the skies, 
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. 
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost : — 
This king of terrors is the prince of Peace.'' 

When Dr. Fisk was about to depart, he was heard 

* Thompson's "Better Land." 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



67 



to exclaim, "from a chair to a throne"* To his fond 
wife whom he saw weeping, he said, "Do not suppose 
that your husband will be buried in the cold, dark 
earth of the college cemetery: this emaciated, suffer- 
ing body may be laid there to sleep, but your husband 
cannot be buried. I shall be unspeakably happy with 
Christ in heaven." 

The Rev. C. Love, minister at Lawrence Jewry, in 
London, was beheaded on Tower Hill, Aug. 22, 1651, 
in the time of Cromwell, for being suspected of plot- 
ting against the government. While standing on the 

coo o 

scaffold he uttered the following most pathetic and 
weighty remarks : 

" Although there be but little between me and 
death, yet this bears up my heart, there is little be- 
tween me and heaven. 

It comforted Dr. Taylor, the martyr, when he was 
going to execution, that there was but two stiles be- 
tween him and his Father's house — but two steps 
between me and glory. It is but lying down upon 
that block and I shall ascend upon a throne. I am 
this dav sailing toward the ocean of eternity — through 
a rough passage to my haven of rest; through a red 
sea to the promised land. 

jji iH ^ >k 5fc ifi 

" Behold I am this day making a double exchange; 
I am changing a pulpit for a scaffold, and a 
scaffold for a throne; and I might add a third — I am 
changing the presence of this numerous multitude on 
Tower Hill for the innumerable company of saints 
and angels in heaven, the holy hill of Zion — and I 
am changing a guard of soldiers for a guard of angels, 

*He was unable to lie down, and died sitting in a chair. 



68 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



which will receive me and carry me to Abraham's 
bosom. This scaffold is the best pulpit that ever I 
preached in. In my church pulpit, God, through his 
grace, made me an instrument to bring others to 
heaven; but in this pulpit, he will bring me to 
heaven. " 

Such has been the hope of God's people in every 
age. In this hope they lived, and in it they died. 
And oh how disappointed if, instead of a convoy of 
angels, and the opening glories of the eternal day, 
they drank the lethean draught of annihilation, and 
sank down to non-existence ; or found a long home 
amid unbroken silence and corruption ! What a 
doctrine to teach as the gospel of Christ ! 

If this theory be true, how dreary is eternity ! Its 
" whole family in heaven," Eph. iii. 15, consists of 
Enoch and Elijah who were translated, and Christ 
and those who arose after his resurrection. There is 
no " world of spirits bright;" and eternity is well nigh 
void. And the materialism that consigns the soul of 
man to the dust, implies the non-existence of angels 
as well; and, indeed, if carried out to its logical 
consequences, must blot out the Infinite Spirit him- 
self! 

This modern Sadduceeism denies all distinction 
between the righteous and the wicked till the general 
resurrection. Not only have the old saints, and 
patriarchs, and prophets been waiting for ages, with- 
out as yet a ray of light, or a gleam of conscious 
being ; but they have yet to wait till the end of time. 
And the wicked are no worse off. With all the differ- 
ence there is in the present life, and the difference 
that will exist hereafter, we are told that for ages be- 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



69 



tween death and the resurrection, there is no differ- 
ence whatever ! Both are wrapped alike in the tran- 
quil slumbers of non-existence ! 

IX. In harmony with the preceding representation, 
that the souls of the righteous ascend at once to Para- 
dise when the body dies, the book of Revelation repre- 
sents the righteous dead as already " before the 
throne," singing and praising God in the land of life. 
They are a great multitude, of all nations, and kind- 
reds, and people and tongues — are clothed with white 
robes, and have palms in their hands. " These are 
they which came out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne 
of God, and serve him day and night in his temple : 
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among 
them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 
more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any 
heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes." 

Happy dwellers in that " better country !" 

Every tear is wiped away, 

Sighs no more shall heave the breast; 

Night is lost in endless day, 
Sorrow in eternal rest. 

Now all these Apocalyptic views of the heavenly 
world (of which there are many) are essentially wrong, 
and misleading, unless it be true that the souls of the 
righteous dead are now happy with Christ in heaven, 
though their bodies slumber in the grave. For let it 
not be forgotten, that the scene is laid beyond the 



70 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



region of sorrow, tears and death ; consequently the 
descriptions can apply to no assembly this side the 
tomb. They are our happy brethren, who, like Moses, 
have crossed the flood, and entered Canaan, though 
their bodies still sleep in the vale of death. 

No oppressive heat they feel, 

From the sun's directer ray ; 
In a milder clime they dwell, 

Region of eternal day. 

X. Answering to the representation that the souls 
of the righteous are now happy with Christ in Para- 
dise, we have the further representation that they 
are TO. return with him, when he comes to raise 
the dead and judge the world. Zechariah says, " And 
the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints 
with thee," Ch. xiv. 5. St. Jude informs us that 
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these 
things, saying, " Behold the Lord cometh with ten 
thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon 
all, etc.," Jude 14, 15, and St. Paul inculcates the 
same doctrine when he speaks of " the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints," IThess. iii. 
13. Now what, we ask, are these " saints" that are 
to come with Christ at his second appearing, if they 
are not the souls of his people who have been with 
him in Paradise during the intermediate period be- 
tween death and the resurrection ? They cannot be 
the bodies of his saints, for they will not be raised till 
Christ arrives, and therefore cannot come with him. 
It is plain, therefore, that they are the souls of the 
righteous dead who have been in Paradise with him 
for ages, and who now return with him as he comes to 
raise their bodies to glory and immortality. 



CONSCIOUS BEING AFTER DEATH. 



71 



Hark ! the Judgment trumpet calls ! 

Lord, rebuild thy house of clay, 
Immortality thy walls, 

And eternity thy day. 

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still lived in the time of 
Moses, though their bodies had long been dead. The 
penitent thief was with Christ in Paradise before the 
twelfth hour of the day of the crucifixion, though the 
bodies of both were on earth, under the dominion of 
death. Lazarus passed at once to Abraham's bosom, 
and the rich man to the torments of hell immediately 
after death. Men cannot kill the soul ; for whether 
we . sleep or wake we shall live together with Christ. 
Moses was with Christ on the mount, though his body 
still slumbered in the valley of Moab. The righteous 
depart at death to be with Christ ; and the dead, who 
die in the Lord, are blessed from henceforth. A part 
of the family of God yet dwell on earth ; but others 
are with Christ in glory. 0 blessed and glorious 
truth ! 

One family we dwell in Him, 

One church above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream, 

The narrow stream of death. 

The sainted dead are already before the throne, 
and serve God day and night in his temple ; and when 
Christ shall appear in the clouds of heaven to raise 
the dead, and burn the world, and judge all men and 
angels, these " saints" shall attend him down his 
starry pathway, to re-enter their bodies, now made 
incorruptible and glorious, and for the redemption of 
which they have so long waited. Rom. viii. 23. Thus 
fully redeemed from death shall they ascend to the 



72 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



heaven of heavens, to be forever with the Lord. 
Then shall the gates lift up their heads, and the ever- 
lasting doors be lifted up ; and the King of Glory, 
with his people shall enter in, to dwell in God's pres- 
ence forever ! May both writer and reader be found 
in that glorious procession 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



73 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ALLEGED SLEEP OF THE SOUL BETWEEN DEATH 
AND THE RESURRECTION. 

Besides adducing the direct Scripture proofs of the 
soul's immortality, it is proper to notice in this connec- 
tion, certain new and peculiar views upon this subject, 
recently promulgated in this country and in England. 
Heretofore, Deism has usually denied both the immor- 
tality of the soul and the resurrection of the body ; 
not because these doctrines were not taught in the 
Bible, but rather because they were therein taught. 
Denying the truth of the Scriptures, and spurning all 
their teachings, it claimed to follow Reason and Na- 
ture, and thence to derive proof that when a man dies 
that is his end forever. 

But within a few years past an attempt has been 
made to unite the most pernicious features of Deism 
with one or two Bible truths ; and to inculcate the 
whole as the veritable teachings of divine revelation. 
Thus we are told, by men professing to believe the 
Bible that man has no spiritual nature whatever dis- 
tinct from his body ; and that when that is dissolved 
by death, what is called the soul or mind goes out 
like an expiring lamp. Thus far they go hand in 
hand with the old Deists ; and with these fatal errors 
they connect the doctrine of the resurrection of the 



7-1 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

body, when that which is called the "soul," say they, 
will be again evolved, and rewards and punishments 
will ensue. To this is added the notion that the 
punishment of the wicked will consist of their utter 
destruction of being, or annihilation, at the final judg- 
ment. 

These are what we call new aifd strange doctrines 
— a sort of hybrid theology or cross between open in- 
fidelity and Bible Christianity. As the advocates of 
this mixed theory profess to respect the Scriptures, 
it is quite natural that they should attempt to press 
them into their service. It is altogether proper, 
then, in a treatise like this, to notice these ano- 
malous attempts to prove the non-immortality, or 
literal death of the soul from the Sacred Writings. 
The present chapter, therefore, will be devoted to the 
alleged Scripture proofs that the soul or spirit of man 
is but a result of animal organization, and becomes 
extinct at the death of the body. 

1. It is alleged that, as a general rule, we are to 
understand the Scriptures in their literal sense. It 
is also affirmed that the original terms rendered soul, 
spirit, and ghost, literally signify ivind or breath ; and 
that, therefore, when applied to man, they mean no 
more than the literal breath which leaves the body at 
death. In reply to this view we answer, that to give 
a literal interpretation to all the terms, and phrases, 
and figures of the Bible, is not only to understand it 
as we interpret no other book, but to turn it into non- 
sense. It is quite true that most of the terms em- 
ployed to represent spiritual things were first used to 
represent material objects ; but are they, therefore, to 
be taken in their literal and material sense ? Take, 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



75 



for example, the Greek term pneuma. which pri- 
marily signifies ivind or air; must we, therefore, al- 
ways adhere to this original meaning? " God is a 
Spirit'' {pneuma) John iv. 24. Is he, therefore, mere 
wind, or air. or breath ? In Acts v. 3, the term ren- 
dered Holy Ghost is pneuma. Bom. viii. 16, where it 
is said, " the Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
Spirit," the phrase is Pneuma me to pneuma, the 
same term being employed to represent the human 
and Divine Spirit. 1 Cor. ii. 10. 11, the term pneuma 
is once used to denote " the spirit of a man," and 
thrice, in the same connection, to denote the Spirit of 
God — pneuma ton Theou. So, also, chapter 6, verse 
20, the terms rendered Spirit of God are. pneuma tou 
Theou. Unless, therefore, the Spirit of God is mere 
wind, air or breath, the term pneuma must be under- 
stood to mean something more than this material sub- 
stance. And. if it means a pure spirit, when applied 
to the Deity, must it not be taken in the same sense 
when, in the very same passage, it is applied to man ? 
Would the Holy Ghost use the term pneuma in the 
sense of a pure spirit in one line, and in the sense of 
mere wind or breath in the next ? Most certainly 
not. 

There is another process by which we may test the 
correctness of the literalists' theory that the terms 
rendered soul and spirit mean simply the breath — a 
process which even the unlearned cannot fail to un- 
derstand. If the original terms rendered "soul" and 
"spirit" in our English Scriptures mean simply 
the breath, then if we put the word " breath" in 
the place of the words " soul" and " spirit," wher- 
ever they occur, our " bad translation" (so called) 



76 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



will be rectified ; and the texts cited will convey to 
us their true meaning. Let us translate a few pas- 
sages according to this theory. And. first, a few 
samples in which the word SOUL occurs, putting the 
word breath, in the place of soul. 

Psalm xix. 7 : — " The law of the Lord is perfect, 
converting the breath." Psalm lxxxvi. 4:- — " Re- 
joice the breath of thy servant : for unto thee, 0 
Lord, do I lift up my breath." Psalm cvi. 15: — 
" And he gave them their request ; but sent leanness 
into their breaths." Matt. x. 28 : — "And fear not 
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
breath : but rather fear him which is able to destroy 
both breath and body in hell." Matt. xxvi. 35: — 
" Then said he unto them, my breath is sorrowful 
even unto death." Luke xii. 19 : — " And I will say 
to my breath, Breath, thou hast much goods laid up 
for many years." 1 Thess. v. 23: — "And I pray 
God your whole spirit and breath and body be pre- 
served blameless, etc." Heb. vi. 19: — "Which hope 
we have as an anchor to the breath." Heb. x. 39 : — 

" But we are of them that believe to the saving of 

the breath." James v. 20 : — " Let him know that he 
which converteth a sinner from the error of his way 
shall save a breath from death, etc." 2 Peter ii. 
8: — "Lot dwelling in Sodom, vexed his righteous 
breath from day to day." 

In the following specimens the word breath is put 
in the place of spirit, with which it is said to be 
synonymous : — 

Job xxxii. 18: — "Fori am full of matter; the 
breath within me constraineth me." Eccl. iii. 21 : — 
"Who knoweth the breath of man that goeth up- 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS 



77 



ward, and the breath of the beast that goeth down- 
ward to the earth." Acts xxiii. 8: — " For the 
Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel, 
nor breath; but the Pharisees confess both." Also, 
verse 9: — "If a breath or an angel hath spoken to 
hirn." Rom. ii. 29: — "Circumcision is that of the 
heart, in the breath;" and viii. 16: — "The Breath 
itself beareth witness with our breath that we are 
the children of God." 1 Cor. ii. 11: — "For what man 
knoweth the things of a man, save the breath of a 
man that is in him?" 1 Cor. v. 5: — "To deliver such 
a one unto Satan — that the breath may be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus." 1 Cor. vi. 5 : — "For ye 
are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in 
your body and breath which are his." 2 Cor. vii. 1 : — 
"Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and breath." Gal. vi. 15: — "Brethren, the 
grace of our Load Jesus Christ be with your breath. 
Amen."* 

Such is the havoc which this wild and unscriptural 
theory makes with the word of God : for if the original 
terms rendered "soul" and "spirit" mean the literal 
breath, it is altogether proper and fair to put breath 
in their place ; whereupon the Bible becomes one of 
the most unintelligible, not to say ridiculous pro- 
ductions, that ever was written. There is no alterna- 

* Nothing would justify the exhibition of the Scriptures in so ridicu- 
lous a light, but a desire to explode one of the popular assumptions of 
the Annihilationists in the briefest possible space, by exposing the 
absurdity of their principles. If there be, therefore, a seeming want 
of dignity and reverence for the Scriptures in these illustrative ex- 
amples, it is due to the false principles that we combat, and not to any 
unfairness or want of candor in their application. We have simply 
answered the Annihilationists according to their folly. 



78 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



tive : we must either accept all this absurdity as the 
true meaning of the Scriptures, or reject the absurd 
principle of interpretation from which these conse- 
quences flow ; and with the exploding of the principle, 
the whole argument falls to the ground. 

II. It is argued that if the soul is a part of man, 
and men die, the soul must die as well as the body ; 
otherwise the man does not die. This reasoning 
might appear sound, were it not for the fact that the 
Scriptures guard against such an error by teaching, 
as we have shown in chapter iv., that the death of a 
human being is but the separation of his two-fold 
nature, — the soul and body — and the extinction of his 
animal life. And even without this special instruc- 
tion as to the nature of death, the above argument is 
fallacious on another account, insomuch as it assumes 
that whatever is affirmed of a human being, is affirmed 
of each and every part of that being. We affirm that 
a man is asleep , and yet his spirit may be awake in 
dreams, or somnambulism. So we may say he is 
sick; but we do not thereby affirm that his soul is 
sick. We habitually affirm that of man, which is true 
of any part of him. Man being a compound being, 
we can scarce avoid this mode of expression. As we 
affirm of Christ whatever is true of either of his 
natures, so of man ; — we say he is intelligent, without 
affirming that his body is intelligent. In the same 
manner we affirm that he dies, without in the least 
implying that his soul dies. The dust may return to 
the earth as it was, but the spirit returns to God who 
gave it. Eccl. xii. 7. 

III. It is affirmed that the numerous Scriptures in 
which death is spoken of as a sleep, convey the idea 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



79 



of the extinction^of the soul at death. " The sleep 
of the soul after death," says Bishop Hobart, "in that 
sense which supposes it to be unconscious, is a modern 
invention, unknown to the ancient popular creed of 
both Jews and heathens, repugnant to reason, and 
contradicted by Scripture."* 

The term sleep, when applied to death, must either 
be understood literally or figuratively. But it cannot 
be understood literally, because in literal sleep the 
animal life is not extinguished; the functions of but 
few of the bodily organs are suspended; the body 
does not tend to decay; and the subject maybe easily 
roused again to wakefulness. None of these are true 
of the dead ; consequently the sleep of death is not a 
literal sleep. 

Again: If death were a literal sleep, it would by 
no means imply unconsciousness, much less the ex- 
tinction of the soul ; for in sleep we think, and reason, 
and hope, and fear, and enjoy, and suffer in our 
dreams, as really as when we are awake. Such a 
sleep, therefore, would fall far short of the material- 
ists' idea of the sleep of the soul at death. For 
natural sleep is not only perfectly compatible with 
continued consciousness, but absolutely implies the 
perpetuity of our conscious being, under circumstances 
of renewed vigor and activity. "If he sleep," said 
the disciples of Lazarus, "he shall do well." Men 
sleep to increase and not to extinguish the mental 
and physical energies. 

"The comparison between the state of the dead, 
and a state of sleep, is beautiful and appropriate. 
Sleep is that relaxation from the toils and afflictions 

* State of the Departed, p. 48. 



80 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of life, that short suspension of the powers of corporeal 
sense and action, which are succeeded by a more 
vigorous exercise of the animal and intellectual 
faculties. And so death, releasing us entirely from 
our conflicts with the trials of this mortal existence, 
and suspending all the corporeal functions, is followed 
by a reviviscence of our whole nature, in the active 
delights and unalloyed glories of the heavenly state."* 

It is safe, therefore, to affirm, that death cannot be 
a literal sleep ; and that if it were it would rather 
support than conflict with the doctrine of the conscious 
existence of the soul after death. 

But if death is not literally a sleep, it can only be 
so figuratively. In metaphorical language we call 
one thing by the name of another, on account of cer- 
tain resemblances between the two. It is only a 
short way of making a comparison. Thus Christ is 
called a lion, a lamb, a rock, a vine, a shepherd, bread, 
&c. So as the death of a body in several respects 
resembles its falling asleep, the term " sleep" is em- 
ployed metaphorically to represent death; without in 
the slightest degree implying the extinction of thought 
and consciousness. 

"The expression sleep, or sleeping, so frequently 
applied in Scripture to the state of the dead, is evi- 
dently metaphorical; derived from the resemblance 
between a dead body, and the body of a person asleep. 
The body is said figuratively to "sleep in the dust of 
the earth;" expecting a resurrection at that day, 
when the dead, both small and great, shall be sum- 
moned to stand before God. Hence the word ceme- 
tery, and dormitory, from the Greek and Latin words 

* State of the Departed, p. 45. 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



81 



xotfiaco and dormio, to sleep, are applied to the re- 
ceptacles of the dead." 

"The term sleep, applied to the state of the dead, 
denotes not unconsciousness, but a freedom from the 
cares and labors of life ; and, as it respects the right- 
eous, expresses comfortable enjoyment, rest, security, 
and felicity. It is a phrase by which, in all lan- 
guages, the state of the dead is denoted. And yet 
the popular belief among all nations, assigns conscious- 
ness and activity to the departed."* 

IV. Psa. xxxvii. 9, 10:— "For evil doers shall be 
cut off : but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall 
inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the 
wicked shall not he: yea, thou shalt diligently con- 
sider his place, and it shall not be." 

From this passage it is argued that death is a 
cessation of conscious existence. But who does not 
see that the expression " shall not be," is the same 
as that the wicked shall be "cut off;" or shall not 
"inherit the earth?" The idea is, that the wicked 
shall not live out half their days, and shall soon dis- 
appear from the earth. And all that is said of him, 
is said of "his place" Of both alike it is said, they 
"shall not be." And it is still further evident that 
the whole relates to the present life, from what fol- 
lows in the next verse:— "But the meek shall inherit 
the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abun- 
dance of peace." It would be quite as logical, there- 
fore, to infer that the righteous shall live here forever, 
because it is said they shall inherit the earth; as to 
argue that the wicked shall cease to exist altogether, 

* State of the Departed, p. 45. 

6 



82 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



because they are not to inherit the earth, but to be 
cut off. 

V. Eccl. iii. 18-20, has often been quoted to 
show that man like the brute, has no soul that will 
outlive the body. " I said in mine heart concerning 
the estate of the sons of men, that God might mani- 
fest them, and that they might see that they them- 
selves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons 
of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth 
them : as the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they 
have all one breath ; so that a man hath no pre-emi- 
nence above a beast : for all is vanity. All go unto 
one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust 
again.' ' 

Two things are observable respecting this text. 
First, it purports to be but a meditation or reflection of 
the writer. " I said in mine heart, etc. ;" and is more 
of the nature of a temptation to unbelief respecting a 
future state than any thing else. In the next place, 
lest it should be misunderstood, and used as it some- 
times has been by modern materialists, it is added in 
the very next verse, " Who knoweth the spirit of 
man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast 
that goeth downward to the earth ?" 

It is thus shown that the deaths of the sons of men 
and of beasts are alike only so far as their bodies are 
concerned ; while they are very unlike as to their 
spiritual natures. While one, like the bodies with 
which they are connected, " goeth downward to the 
earth," the other " goeth upward,' ' or " returns to 
God who gave it." Ch. xii. 7. 

VI. Psalm vi. 4 : — " Return 0 Lord, deliver my 
soul : oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



83 



there is no remembrance of thee : in the grave who 
shall give thee thanks ?" 

The prayer of the Psalmist that God would save 
him, is here urged upon the ground that it will be too 
late after death. This is the obvious import of the 
passage. The " remembrance" and " thanks" men- 
tioned, are, therefore, such as are required in this 
world, as conditions of salvation. Such are not to be 
found in death or the ^rave ; hence the earnest prayer 
for salvation while it might be found. There can be 
no such remembrance of God or thanksgiving to him 
in death or the grave. 

VII. Psalm cxv. 17, 18 : — " The dead praise not 
the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. But 
we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for 
evermore." 

If the first of these passages teaches that the dead 
have no knowledge of God, the second certainly con- 
tradicts it, unless the Psalmist expected to live in this 
world "for evermore ;" for such was to be the dura- 
tion of his praise. It is plain, therefore, that in this 
passage, like the one preceding, the meaning is that 
none of the dead repent and turn to the Lord, and 
thus first begin to praise him ; while the righteous, like 
Pavid, can still say, 

My days of praise shall ne'er be past, 
While life, and thought, and being last, 
Or immortality endures. 

VIII. Eel. ix. 4-6 :— " For to him that is joined to 
all the living there is hope : for a living dog is better 

# than a dead lion. For the living know that they 
shall die : but the dead know not any thing, neither 



84 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



have they any more a reward ; for the memory of 
them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, 
and their envy, is now perished ; neither have they 
any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done 
under the sun." 

It requires very little effort to see that this text, like 
the two preceding, has reference solely to what the dead 
can know, or do, or receive, of any thing " under the 
sun ;" that is in this world. The last two verses are 
simply explanatory of the statement of the first, that 
our hope and interest in all things earthly, are limited 
to this short and transitory life. The passage has no 
bearing, therefore, upon the question whether or not 
the soul is conscious after the body dies. 

IX. Isaiah xxxviii. 17, 18 : — " Behold, for peace I 
had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul 
delivered it from the pit of corruption : for thou hast 
cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave 
cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee : they 
that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do 
this day : the father to the children shall make known 
thy truth." 

The subject of this passage is the same as in the 
three preceding — the necessity of timely repentance 
and pardon. The Psalmist was grateful to God that 
though once in " great bitterness," his soul had been 
" delivered" by the pardon of his sins. And he mag- 
nifies the grace of God by the consideration that 
mercy came before it was too late. " The grave 
cannot praise thee," or turn to the service of God; 
the dead " cannot hope for thy truth." It is too late 
then to hear the voice of warning. " The living," 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



85 



alone are thus privileged ; and to them only can men 
"make known thy truth." 

Acts ii. 34 : — " For David is not yet ascended into 
the heavens, etc." The argument founded upon*this 
passage is that as David's spirit had not ascended into 
the heavens, it must have been slumbering in the 
grave with his body ; and, therefore, the doctrine of 
the immortality of the soul cannot be true. But un- 
fortunately for the argument, the whole drift of the 
context shows that Peter was speaking of David's 
body and not of his soul. The subject under con- 
sideration is the resurrection of Christ ; and the apos- 
tle affirms first, that Christ had been raised from the 
dead. " Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the 
pains of death : because it was not possible that he 
should be holden of it." Verse 24. In the second 
place, he shows why it was not possible that Christ 
should be holden of death. " For David speaketh 
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my 
face ; for he is on my right hand, that I should not 
be moved : therefore did my heart rejoice, and my 
tongue was glad ; moreover also my flesh shall rest in 
hope : because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, 
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corrup- 
tion. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life ; 
thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." 
Verses 25-28. 

This prophecy, it is then urged, did not relate to 
David personally, but to Christ, the seed of David. 
" Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of 
the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, 
and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore 
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn 



86 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



with an oath to liira. that of the fruit of his loins, ac- 
cording to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on 
his throne ; he, seeing this before, spake of the 
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in 
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus 
hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, 
and having received of the Father the promise of the 
Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now 
see and hear." Verses 29—33. 

Then conies in the passage first cited. " For David 
is not ascended into the heavens : but he saith him- 
self, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 
right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. 
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, 
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have 
crucified, both Lord and Christ." 

The argument of the apostle is, that the prophecy 
could not have related to David personally, because it 
was never fulfilled in him. He saw corruption, and 
his sepulchre was yet with them. " For David, after 
he had served his own generation by the will of God, 
fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw 
corruption: but he whom God raised again saw no 
corruption :" — Acts xiii. 36, 37. The prophecy spoke 
also of a "path of life," or way to immortality, and 
an ascension to the right hand of God, neither of 
which had been fulfilled in regard to the body of 
David. " For David is not passed into the heavens." 
He is neither raised nor enthroned : and vet such is 
the import of the prophecy. For "he saith himself, 
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right 
hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." If, then, 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



87 



such are the prophecies, which were never fulfilled in 
David personally, it is plain that he " spoke of the 
resurrection of Christ/' and not of himself. Nothing, 
therefore, could be more foreign to the subject than 
to understand the remark that David had not yet as- 
cended into heaven, as relating to his soul ! It is 
precisely like affirming that his soul had not gone to 
hades, or the world of spirits, because his body was 
yet in the grave. 

XL 1 Cor. xv. 16-18:— " For if the dead rise not, 
then is not Christ raised : and if Christ be not raised, 
your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then 
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are 
perished.' ' 

The argument founded upon this passage, is, that 
if Christ is not risen, and there is no resurrection, 
there can be no future existence. This is true only 
in the sense intended by the apostle ; and that is, that 
if Christ is not risen from the dead, the w T hole system 
which he taught, including the immortality of the 
soul as well as the resurrection of the body, falls to 
the ground. This the most firm believer in the im- 
mortality of the soul will readily admit. For if 
Christ be not risen, the whole Christian system is a 
cunningly devised fable; the hopes it inspires are de- 
lusive; and so far as AVe have any evidence to the 
contrary from any other and surer word of prophecy, 
the dead in Christ are perished. But even then, as 
we shall see hereafter, the word "perished" implies 
the loss of the soul only, or its failure to reach 
Paradise, rather than its having fallen into non- 
existence. 

XII. 2 Tim. iv. 6-8: — "For I am now ready to be 



88 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 
have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not 
to me only, but unto all them also that love his ap- 
pearing." 

From this passage it is argued that St. Paul did 
not expect his crown of righteousness till the second 
coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead; 
and that consequently he had no reward, and indeed 
no conscious existence from death to that period. 
But the conclusion is not warranted by the premises. 
We are ready to admit that the " crown of righteous- 
ness " — the full and glorious reward of the righteous — 
will not be administered till the resurrection; but it 
by no means follows that there is no reward, nor hap- 
piness, nor existence, .till the resurrected believer is 
fully crowned. And the fact that St. Paul looked 
forward with hope and joy to the resurrection of the 
dead, no more proves that he expected nothing before 
that event, than the same hope in a Christian now, 
proves that he believes in the death of the soul. In 
fact the firmer our belief in the immortality of the 
soul, the more ardent and joyful our hope of the re- 
surrection of the body. So with St. Paul: he knew 
that to die was gain — to be with Christ which is far 
better — and yet he looked forward with rapturous 
joy, to the day when his salvation should be com- 
pleted in the resurrection of his body. Such in fact 
is the true explanation of all those Scriptures in 
which the righteous seem to dwell upon the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, as an object of hope and desire. 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS 



89 



Not that they can have no happiness or conscious ex- 
istence till the body is raised, but because the resur- 
rection of their bodies incorruptible and glorious is the 
last and croivning act of their salvation from the power 
of sin and death. Is it at all strange, therefore, that 
they look forward to that glorious consummation, 
with holy joy and triumph ? 

XII. That the early Christians and martyrs for 
the word of God understood the Scriptures as we have 
explained them, and looked for conscious joy in Para- 
dise immediately after death, might be shown to almost 
any extent from ecclesiastical history. But this would 
lead us too far aside from our purpose to confine our- 
self in this part of our inquiry, almost exclusively to 
the Sacred Writings. A few brief references, how- 
ever, may not be out of place. 

Of the thousands of Christian martyrs who sealed 
the truth with their blood during the first three cen- 
turies of the Christian era, not one of them gave ex- 
pression in his last moments, so far as can be ascer- 
tained, to the idea that his soul would die or become 
unconscious when the body was dissolved. On the 
contrary they uniformly express the hope of imme- 
diate and conscious happiness after death. Take the 
following as examples: 

Polycasp was the companion of St. John, and 
often heard him preach. He suffered martyrdom, 
A. D. 166, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. 
When the Proconsul threatened him with wild beasts 
unless he recanted, he answered, "call them:" and 
when the proconsul threatened to burn him alive, he 
answered, "You threaten fire that burns for a moment 
and is soon extinguished, for you know nothing of 



90 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the judgment to come, and the fire of eternal punish- 
ment reserved for the wicked." In his last prayer as 
he stood bound to the stake, after mentioning the 
blessed martyrs, he said, " Among whom may I be 
received in thy sight this day, &e."* 

From these passages it is clear that Polycarp, the 
companion of St. John, not only believed in "eternal 
punishment," but looked for an immediate life with 
Christ in Paradise, when the pains of martyrdom 
were over. For him to die was to be introduced at 
once into the presence of God, and the society of the 
blessed who had gone before. And Eusebius, who 
wrote the account A. D. 324, concludes the narrative 
of his martyrdom by saying, he was " crowned with 
the crown of immortality." Neither the martyr nor 
the historian, therefore, believed in the doctrine of 
the death or sleep of souls. 

Lucius perished under Urbicius about the time of 
Polycarp. When Urbicius commanded him to be led 
forth, Lucius thanked him, saying he was now "liber- 
ated from wicked masters, and was going to the good 
Father and King, even God."f To die was to go to 
God, and not to cease to exist. 

Biblias, while suffering the torture of martyrdom, 
was at the point to renounce Christ and escape, when 
"she was reminded," it is said, "by the punishment 
before her, of the eternal punishment of hell," 
and remained steadfast to the last.J She had no 
idea, therefore, that the death of a sinner placed him 
beyond the possibility of eternal punishment. 

Again in the same book and chapter, Eusebius 



* Eusebius' Eccl. Hist, bk, iv. Chap. xv. 
f Ibid. b. iv. Ch. xviii. % Ibid. b. v. Ch. i. 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



91 



speaks of " those noble wrestlers," the martyrs, as 
having sustained a diversified contest ; " come off with 
a glorious victory, and borne away the crown of immor- 
tality. 

Blandina was suspended on a stake, and exposed 
as food for wild beasts. She persuaded those who 
believed in Christ that " every one who suffers for 
Christ, will for ever enjoy communion with the living 
God." And yet, if annihilationism be true, she has 
not yet come to communion with God, and may not 
for a thousand years to come. 

A little further on the historian says, " Thus she 
overcame the enemy in many trials, [the wild beasts 
refused to attack her,] and in the conflict received the 
crown of immortality." On the next page it is 
said, " But the blessed Blandina, last of all, as a noble 
mother that had animated her children and SENT them 
as victors to the great kixg, herself retracing the 
ground of all the conflicts her children had endured, 
hastened at last, with joy and exultation at the 
issue, TO them, as if she were invited to a marriage 
feast, and not to be cast to w T ild beasts."* 

Such was the testimony of the first martyrs — such 
the doctrine they learned from the Apostles, and 
from the Holy Scriptures. And I hesitate not to 
say that not the first instance can be cited in which, 
during the first three centuries, a Christian expressed 
any other hope in his last hours than that of entering 
at once upon the joys of an endless life. 

XIII. I cannot refrain, in this connection, from 
adducing a few additional proofs of the views and 
hopes of the early martyrs. They are too striking 

* EuSebius' Eccl. Hist. b. v. Ch. 1. 



92 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and conclusive to be omitted — monumental witnesses 
that stand unchanged by the lapse of ages, like the 
records of creation, written in the everlasting hills. 

The Catacombs of Rome are a subterranean city of 
the dead, in which the bodies of the martyrs were 
buried during the first three centuries of the Christian 
era. The inscriptions upon these tombs throw no little 
light upon the faith of the early Christians. Take 
the following as examples: " Borne away by angels 
on the seventh Ides of January." " In Christ, Alex- 
ander is not dead, but lives above the stars — his body 
rests in this tomb." "Among the innocent ones." 
u One who lives with God." " Gone to dwell with 
Christ." " Snatched home eternally, etc." Other 
inscriptions speak of the day of their departure, as 
their "natal" or birthday; and what is still more 
significant, the word death is never used in reference 
to one of all that vast company of the departed ! 

Such is the testimony of these mute and incorrup- 
tible witnesses, to the separate and immortal exist- 
ence of human souls when their bodies return to dust.* 

The doctrine of the death or sleep of the soul from 
death to the resurrection, is liable to numerous and 
insuperable objections, a few of which may be briefly 
stated. 

1. It is contrary to that large class of Scriptures 
cited in Chapter II., which go to show that matter 
and spirit are distinct essences. 

2. It is contrary to a still larger list cited in 
Chapter III., which represent man as a two-fold 
being — a spirit in a body. 

* National Magazine, Vol. v. pp. 123. 224, 227; or. Bishop Kipp's 

Work upon the Catacombs. 



ALLEGED SLEEP OF SOULS. 



93 



3. It is contrary to all those Scriptures cited in 
Chapter IV., which go to prove that death is the 
separation of soul and body, and not the extinction 
of thought or consciousness. 

4. It is contrary to a still larger and very explicit 
list of texts cited in Chapter V., which directly prove 
the conscious existence of the soul after death. 

5. It is degrading to our species, in that it reduces 
man to a level with the brute ; and so far as the effect 
of death upon hirn is concerned, gives him no pre- 
eminence over the beast. * 

6. It represents the eternal world as an empty 
void, so far as human spirits are concerned — as upon 
this theory there are no human souls in heaven till 
the general resurrection ; whereas, the Scriptures rep- 
resent heaven as already peopled with a vast and joy- 
ful company which no man can number. See Rev. 
vii. 9-14. 

7. It makes no distinction between the righteous 
and the wicked for long ages after death. Cain, and 
Abel, and Jeremiah, and Jezebel, and Judas, and St. 
John, and Payson, and Thomas Paine ; and indeed, 
all sinners and saints, share precisely the same fate 
from death to the resurrection. It is to all alike a 
dreary unbroken parenthesis of being — a dark and 
yawning chasm in existence itself! In the case of 
the patriarchs and prophets a life of communion with 
God is followed by a worse than banishment of centu- 
ries ; and the glory and bliss of heaven is preceded by 
ages of darkness and non-existence ! Is this all that 

* An infidel, who had been attempting to prove that men have no 
souls, asked a lady with an air of triumph what she thought of his 
philosophy. "It appears to me/' she replied, "that you have teen 
employing a good deal of talent to prove yourself a beast." 



94 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



God has promised to his saints ? Is this the best that 
he can do for his followers when the present life shall 
end? Is this "the hope of glory" which swelled the 
bosoms of the apostles and prophets, and emboldened 
the martyrs to meet death even with joy and triumph ? 
Ah no ! It is " another gospel !" The martyrs died 
with a different hope. With them it was death and 
immediate glory. 

And so with modern Christian believers. Among 
the millions who have made the Bible their study 
during the last fifteen hundred years, how very few 
have understood it to teach any other doctrine. Not 
one in ten thousand. And yet they were not Infidels 
nor Papists, but devout Protestant Christians. They 
read the blessed Bible to learn the way to heaven, and 
they understood it to teach that death only separated 
the inner from the outer man, and introduced the 
souls of the righteous to eternal joys. In this faith 
they lived, and in this hope they died. 

But were the primitive saints and martyrs all in 
error ? Have nine hundred and ninety-nine out of 
every thousand of Christians who have ever lived, lived 
in error upon this vital point, and died with a false 
hope ? Believe it, who can ! Nay, rather ; their's 
was the true gospel of the life to come, their's the 
well-grounded hope of immortality. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. $5 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE "INTERMEDIATE STATE;" OR THE PLACE OF SOULS 
BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION. 

In the last three chapters we have shown, that 
death is but the separation of the soul from the body; 
and that the soul neither sleeps nor becomes uncon- 
scious between death and the resurrection. We have 
also shown incidentally that the souls of the righteous 
will be happy, and those of the wicked miserable im- 
mediately after death, and during this intermediate 
period. But an interesting question arises just 
here: Where are the souls of men during this inter- 
mediate period from death to the resurrection ? Are 
they in the final heaven and hell that shall be 
after the resurrection and general judgment, or 
in intermediate abodes differing from their final allot- 
ment ? 

That the state of souls disembodied is, in some re- 
spects, different from that of souls embodied, is 
obvious; so that few will deny an intermediate state, 
who believe in a resurrection of the body. But the 
question here proposed relates, not to the state merely, 
but to the place of souls between the death of the 
body and its final resurrection. 

Upon this question little has been said in modern 



96 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



times, even by writers upon a future life.* Eor this 
there may have been two reasons — a foregone im- 
pression that the Scriptures shed but little light upon 
the subject ; and a vague apprehension that in some 
way the doctrine of an intermediate place of souls, 
favors the doctrine of Purgatory, and of final and 
universal restoration. But this by no means follows. 
The doctrine of an intermediate place of souls may be 
true, and the idea of purification there and of final 
restoration a fiction. 

That the place of souls between death and the 
resurrection is different from their final abode, was 
generally believed by the primitive church. It is a 
doctrine of the Church of England, and of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal church in this country, and was 
certainly believed by John Wesley and Dr. Adam 
Clarke, two of the great lights of Methodism. It 
was also advocated by Scott, and Magee, and 
Campbell, among the Presbyterians ; as well as by 
scores of learned and pious men who were never sus- 
pected either of Popery or Universalism. We have, 
therefore, no reason to reject this doctrine, or to dis- 
cuss it with prejudice, or fear, from any apprehension 
that its tendency is to favor the errors above alluded 
to. 

That there is an intermediate place as well as a 
state of souls between death and the resurrection, 
seems highly probable from the following considera- 
tions :- — 

I. There must of necessity be a great differ- 
ence between the intermediate state of souls, and 

* The best treatise we have seen is that on " The State of the De- 
pa ried/' by Bishop Hobart. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



97 



their final condition after the resurrection of their 
bodies. 

Man is a compound being consisting of body and 
soul. Death is a separation of these two natures. 
The soul of the good man goes to " Paradise," and 
the body goes back to corruption. 

Now it must be obvious that just so far as the want 
of an immortal and glorified body is an imperfection 
in man, (not moral, perhaps, but physical,) he is in an 
imperfect state till his body is raised from the dead. 
And if no imperfection can enter the final abode of 
the righteous, man is not prepared to enter his final 
dwelling-place, till after the general resurrection. 
And if so there is an analogical necessity for an in- 
termediate place of souls between death and the re- 
surrection,- answering somewhat to the peculiar state 
of disembodied spirits. 

Again: It should be remembered, not only that 
man's normal condition is soul and body in union, 
while a state of separation and dissolution is an ab- 
normal state; — a sort of parenthesis in his being; — 
but that this abnormal condition is a result of sin; 
and one of the victories achieved by it, from which 
even the righteous are not yet delivered. No man is 
or can be fully "saved," therefore, while his body is 
yet in the grave, under the dominion of death. When 
that is raised in incorruption, and power, and glory ; 
and re-inhabited by the soul which was dislodged from 
it at death, then, and not till then, will any be 
" saved" in the highest and fullest sense; and death 
be swallowed up of victory. Why, then, should souls 
go up beforehand to the heavenly mansions, to which 
they are admitted when made perfect and complete 



98 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



by the general resurrection ? Is not an intermediate 
place of souls more in harmony with this imperfect 
and abnormal state, than the highest exaltation in the 
heavenly world? 

II. There are intimations in the Scriptures of an 
established order, on the part of God to introduce all 
his saints to their final and glorious reward at one and 
the same time. Mark, we say the "final" reward. 
Take the following passages as samples. 

1. 1 Thess. iv. 15-17:— "For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and re- 
main unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent 
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall 
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the 
dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are 
alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord." 

In the 15th verse the word " prevent" is used in 
its old English sense of to go before or anticipate. 
The living Christian, who hears the sound of the re- 
surrection trumpet, and is changed from mortal to 
immortality in a moment, shall not go before or out- 
strip his brother Christian, whose body has been dis- 
solved by death, and whose inanimate dust sleeps in 
the grave. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." 
Not, as some understand it, before the wicked rise, 
but before the righteous who "are alive and remain," 
ascend. " Then," — after the righteous dead have 
arisen — both shall be caught up together, to meet the 
Lord in the air, and to be forever with the Lord. 
This established order, therefore, seems to imply that 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



99 



the righteous do not enter the final heaven at death, 
that there must be an intermediate abode, where their 
souls are in joy and felicity. 

2. Heb. xi. 39, 40, speaking of the Old Testament 
saints, the apostle says: — "And these all, having 
obtained a good report through faith, received not the 
promise : Grod having provided some better thing for 
us, that they without us should not be made perfect." 

This last clause is generally understood to teach 
that the saints of former ages are not " made perfect," 
that is, do not enter upon their eternal reward, till 
those of the later dispensation enter also upon their 
final glory. Mr. Wesley in his notes says, "that 
they might not be perfected without us. That is, that 
we might all be perfected together in heaven. " Dr. 
Clarke says, — 46 The preceding believers cannot be 
consummated even in glory, till the gospel church 
arrives in the heaven of heavens." 

Upon this passage Dr. Macknight observes: 
"Made perfect" here signifies made complete, by re- 
ceiving the whole of the blessings promised to be- 
lievers, the expectation of which animated the ancients, 
whose great actions are celebrated in the preceding 
part of the chapter. These blessings are the resur- 
rection of the body, the everlasting possession of the 
heavenly country, and the full enjoyment of God as 
their exceeding great reward. The apostle's doctrine 
that believers are all to be rewarded together, and at 
the same time, is agreeable to Christ's declaration, 
who told his disciples that they were not to come to 
the place he was going away to prepare for them, till 
he returned from heaven to carry them to it. * * 
This determination, not to reward the ancients with- 



106 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



out us. is highly proper; because the power and 
veracity of God will be more illustriously displayed 
in the view of angels and men. by raising the whole 
of Abraham's seed from the dead at once, and by in- 
troducing them into the heavenly country in a body, 
after a public acquittal at the day of judgment, than 
if each were made perfect separately at their death.* 

Xow if such be the order of God in reference to his 
people, how say some among us that Abel, and Noah, 
and Job. and the prophets ascended at once to their 
final heaven the moment they dropped their earthly 
tabernacles? If the saints who are alive at Christ's 
second coming cannot ascend till the saints who ••sleep 
in the dust of the earth" are raised, to go with them: 
and if none of God's people of former ages are made 
perfect without or before the saints of the last days, 
is not their present state an imperfect one. so far as 
their fulness of joy is concerned'.' And does not that 
imperfection of state, imply a corresponding imperfec- 
tion of place, or an intermediate Paradise, other than 
our final home after the resurrection? 

III. The same general idea is more directly con- 
veyed in a numerous class of Scriptures, which teach 
that men are not to be fully rewarded or punished till 
Christ's second coming and the resurrection. 

Matt. xiii. 39-43: — "The harvest is the end of the 
world. * * * * The Son of man shall send forth his 
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do inkjuity: and 
shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be 
wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the right- 

*See Cominenrary and Notes, 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



101 



eous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father. " 

2 Thess. i. 7-10: — "And to you. who are troubled, 
rest with us. when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire 
taking vengeance on them that know not God. and 
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of 
his power ; when he shall come to be glorified in his 
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe 
(because our testimony among you was believed) in 
that day/'' 

2 Pet. iii. 7: — "But the heavens and the earth, 
which are now. by the same word are kept in store, 
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and 
perdition of ungodly men.'' These passages relate to 
the wicked, and clearly teach that they are not to be 
"cast into a furnace of fire;" to "be punished with 
everlasting destruction."'' and to experience their 
complete "perdition." till the second coming of Christ 
and the resurrection. Take also another still more 
extended class that speak only of the righteous: — 

Luke xiv. 13. 14: — "But when thou makest a 
feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; 
and thou shalt be blessed: for they cannot recompense 
thee: far thou shall be recompensed at the resurrection 
of the just." 

1 Pet. i. 5. 7. 13: — "Who are kept by the power of 
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed 
in the last time. That the trial of your faith, being 
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto 



102 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of 
Jesus Christ: wherefore gird up the loins of your 
mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that 
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ." 

1 Pet. iv. 13: — "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are 
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, zvhen his glory 
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding 

1 Pet. v. 4: — "And when the chief Shepherd shall 
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth 
not away." 

2 Tim. iv. 8: — "Henceforth there is laid up for me 
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 
eous Judge, shall give me at that dag: and not to 
me only, but unto all them also that love his appear- 
mg. 

1 John iii. 2 : — " Beloved, now are we the sons of 
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : 
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him ; for we shall see him as he is." 

John xiv. 2, 3 : — " In my Father's house are many 
mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you. 
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive 
you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be 
also." 

In this last passage the reception of the righteous 
to the heavenly mansions prepared for them is repre- 
sented as to occur when Christ comes again, and not 
at the hour of death. And so in the other passages 
cited — they all clearly teach that the righteous are 
not to "shine forth as the sun" in the kingdom of 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



103 



God ; to be " recompensed :' to " be glad with exceed- 
ing joy;" to receive their "crowns of glory, etc.," 
till Christ descends again from heaven, raises the 
dead, and distributes to all men their eternal rewards. 
How, then, can it be true that the heaven to which 
the spirits of the righteous ascend, and where they 
now are, is the very heaven to which they shall re- 
turn after the general resurrection and final judgment ? 

IV. Still more strikingly, if possible, is the doc- 
trine of an intermediate place of souls implied in 
every description of the final judgment. Matt. xxv. 
31, and onward is one of the most unequivocal and 
imposing of these descriptions. The Son of God 
descends from heaven, with his holv angels ; all na- 
tions are summoned before him. He then proceeds 
to separate the righteous from the wicked, as a shep- 
herd divideth his sheep from the goats. To the righte- 
ous he says, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world;" and to the wicked, " Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels." " And these shall go away into 
everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into life 
eternal." Whatever that fulness of joy or misery 
may be to which men are thus finally adjudged, unless 
the Scriptures are utterly misleading, it is plain that 
the righteous do not "inherit the kingdom" of their 
complete and eternal glory till after the resurrection 
and final judgment. Neither do the wicked depart to 
their final and everlasting doom before that time. 

The same doctrine is taught in the parable of the 
talents, Matt. xxiv. 14-30: — It is not till "the Lord 
of those servants cometh," that he saith to the " good 



104 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and faithful," "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ;." 
or of the wicked, " Cast ye the unprofitable servant 
into outer darkness." So in the parable of the wise 
and foolish virgin, in the same chapter — it is not till 
"the bridegroom cometh," that the wise "go in unto 
the marriage," and the door is shut against the 
foolish. 

Upon the hypothesis of no intermediate place of 
souls, and their introduction to the final heaven or 
hell, immediately after death, both have entered on 
their respective rewards, in their eternal abodes, be- 
fore they are judged, and without their immortal 
bodies. They are then each to be called subsequently, 
from their respective abodes, judged and sent back 
to the very places from whence they came ! Does not 
such a theory destroy much of the consistency (we 
speak with reverence) much of the reasonableness of 
and sublimity of the grand and solemn procedure ? 
If men are to be publicly judged and rewarded or 
punished, at the resurrection, why should they be re- 
warded or punished in the same manner, and the 
same place, before the resurrection and final judg- 
ment ? And what can be the force of the sentence, 
" Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom ;" " Depart, ye 
cursed into everlasting fire;" if the former has been 
inheriting the "kingdom," and the latter enduring 
the "fire" for long ages before? 

We know it has been replied that there will be 
other degrees of joy or sorrow after the resurrection 
and final judgment, sufficient to warrant the language 
of the preceding descriptions. But it is not so much 
of new degrees of joy or sorrow that shall follow the 
day of judgment, of which the Scriptures seem to 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



105 



speak, as of new abodes both for the righteous and 
the wicked. Then the righteous are to come to their 
heavenly Zion, with songs, and everlasting joy upon 
their heads ; and then the wicked are to "go away into 
everlasting punishment." Surely, then, they have 
not entered upon either already ; but the souls of each 
are in Hades — the place of souls, happy or miserable 
as their works have been, but awaiting the coming of 
the Son of man; the resurrection of their bodies; the 
final judgment; and the final heaven or hell that are 
to follow. 

The doctrine of an intermediate state is, therefore, 
the only doctrine that can be reconciled with the 
Scripture doctrine of a general judgment; and by 
losing sight of it many have been perplexed with those 
Scriptures which connect rewards and punishments 
with the resurrection. And some have thus been led 
even to countenance the doctrine of the sleep or ex- 
tinction of the soul, during the death of the body, to 
the support of which these Scriptures are perverted. 

V. We have several descriptions of the resurrection 
of the dead, both in the Old and New Testament, in 
all of which it is implied that souls do not return after 
the resurrection and general judgment, to the places 
from which they come forth to be judged. We cite a 
few specimens. 

Hosea xiii. 14, is one of these descriptions. "I 
will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will 
redeem them from death: 0 death, I will be thy 
plagues; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction: repent- 
ance shall be hid from mine eyes." That this pas- 
sage is a prophecy of the resurrection is certain from 
the use made of it by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55. 



106 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



We have first the announcement, " I will ran- 
som them from the power of the grave, I will re- 
deem them from death;" and then the triumphant 
double apostrophe to death and the grave, " 0 
death, I will be thy plagues ; 0 grave, I will be 
thy destruction : repentance shall be hid from mine 
eyes." 

Fully to appreciate this sublime prophecy, we must 
remember what man is; what death does to him; 
and what the resurrection is to effect. As man, he 
consists of a material and mortal body, and an imma- 
terial and immortal spirit. Death separates the soul 
from the body, consigning the latter to the dust, and 
the former to hades — the abode of departed souls. 
In the resurrection the body is raised from death to 
life and immortality, and the soul leaves its interme- 
diate abode, to re-enter its deathless body, and to 
dwell in it forever. 

Answering to all this a triumphant apostrophe is 
addressed, in the above passage, as well to the place 
of souls, as to the grave. " 0 death, [Hebrew maveth 
— the principle of corruption, the grave,] I will be thy 
plagues. 0 grave, [Hebrew sheol — the place of the 
dead,] I will be thy destruction." "Sheol" says 
Clarke, " shall be destroyed, for it must deliver up 
its dead," — the souls of men. "Maveth shall be 
annihilated, for the body shall be raised incorrupti- 
ble." 

The import, then, of this prophetic description is 
not that sheol or the present abode of souls shall con- 
tinue after the resurrection, any more than maveth, 
the present abode of dead bodies shall continue. 
Both are alike to pass away, to be succeeded by the 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



107 



everlasting habitations to which men will be assigned 
after the general resurrection. 

In the xvth chapter of first Corinthians, St. Paul 
cites this same passage, with slight modification. 
His subject is the resurrection of the dead. He has 
just constructed one of the most sublime arguments 
ever put forth upon any subject, and thus crowns the 
glorious structure : — 

" For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and 
this mortal must put on immortality. So when this 
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be 
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy 
sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting 
of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Here the believer's victory is consummated in the 
resurrection, "through our Lord Jesus Christ:" and 
in that glorious consummation "the saying that is 
written" by the prophet "shall be brought to pass." 

But observe that here also the present abode of 
souls and the grave are each separately addressed, 
and both are to be alike abolished in the resurrection. 
"0 death, [Grr. thanate 9 ~] where is thy sting?" Thy 
power to harm is gone — thy prey set free! "0 
grave, [Grr. hades — the place of souls,] where is thy 
victory?" "Hades," says Clarke, "which we trans- 
late grave, is generally understood to be the place of 
separate spirits." "0 hades" says Mr. Wesley, 
"the receptacle of separate souls — where is thy vie- 
tory? Hades literally relates to the invisible world, 



108 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and relates to souls; death to the body." And so 
Dr. Barnes, "0 hades — the place of the dead." 
And mark, that hades no more retains the souls of 
men after the resurrection, than the grave does their 
bodies. They come each from their respective tem- 
porary abodes, and re-unite. Hades and the grave 
are thus superseded and abolished, and immortal 
man then enters upon his eternal dwelling-place. 

Finally, in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, 
we have still another prophecy and a more sublime 
and minute description of the general resurrection : 

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that 
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven 
fled away ; and there was found no place for them. 
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God ; and the books were opened : and another book 
was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead 
were judged out of those things which were written in 
the books, according to their works. And the sea 
gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell 
delivered up the dead which were in them : and they 
were judged every man according to their works. 
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. 
This is the second death." 

Here, in the thirteenth verse, as in the prophecy of 
Hosea, and the quotation of St. Paul, there is a two- 
fold yielding up in the resurrection ; the one relating 
to souls and the other to bodies. Both death, (the 
grave.) and Hades, the place of souls, delivered up 
their dead, the one the souls, and the other the bodies. 
"Hades, the place of separate spirits," says Clarke. 
" The sea and death have the bodies of all human 
beings; Hades their spirits." " Death gave up all 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



109 



the bodies of men," says Mb. Wesley, " and Hades^ 
the receptacle of separate souls, gave them up to be 
re-unit eel to their bodies." 

Then death or the grave and Hades are both 
abolished. "And death and hell were cast into the 
lake of fire;" that is, says Mr. Wesley, "were abol- 
ished for ever. For neither the righteous nor the 
wicked were to die any more : their souls and bodies 
were no more to be separated. Consequently, neither 
death nor hades could any more have a being." 
Thus each of these inspired descriptions of the resur- 
rection, strongly implies, to say the least, that in that 
future consummation the souls of men will come from 
a place to which they will not return, but which will 
be superseded by other and different abodes, which 
shall be unalterable and eternal. Their present 
abodes must therefore be only intermediate and tem- 
porary, and not the final heaven or hell that shall be, 
beyond the day of judgment. 

VI. The same doctrine seems also to be taught by 
our Saviour in the parable of the rich man and Laza- 
rus, Luke xvi. 19. To understand this parable fully 
it should be borne in mind that the Jews, to whom our 
Lord was speaking, or at least, the chief sect of that 
people, held to the doctrine of an intermediate state. 
This is evident from Josephus' discourse to the Greeks 
upon that very subject. Josephus was a learned 
Jewish historian, who wrote about A. D. 80. In his 
discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades, he says : — 

" Now, as to Hacles. wherein the souls of the righteous 
and unrighteous are detained, it is necessary to speak of 
it. * * This region is allotted as a place of custody for 
souls, in which angels are appointed as guardians to 



110 THE IMMORTALITY Of THE SOUL. 



them, who distribute to them temporary punishments, 
agreeable to every one's behavior and manners. 

"In this region there is a certain place set apart, 
as a lake of unquenchable fire, whereinto we suppose 
no one hath hitherto been cast, but it is prepared for 
a day afore determined by God, in which one righte- 
ous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men ; 
when the unjust, and those that have been disobedient 
to God, and have given honor to such idols as have 
been the vain operations of the hands of men. as to 
God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting 
punishment, as having been the cause of defilement : 
while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never- 
fading kingdom. These are now, indeed, confined in 
hades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust 
are confined." 

This passage clearly sets forth the Jewish idea of 
the nature of hades, as a receptacle of souls, both 
good and bad; and we cite it solely for this purpose, 
and not to settle anything directly as to the exist- 
ence or non-existence of an intermediate state. 

Still further on he gives the current belief that in 
the resurrection the souls in hades will be united with 
their former bodies made immortal. 

''This is the discourse concerning hades, wherein 
the souls of all men are confined until a proper season 
which God hath determined, when he will make a re- 
surrection of all men from the dead. * * * * And 
to every body shall its own soul be restored." 

He then proceeds to give an account of the general 
judgment, which he describes as following the resur- 
rection, and the re-union of the souls of men with 
their bodies; and to be followed by everlasting hap- 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



Ill 



piness to the righteous, and eternal misery to the 
wicked. It is certain, therefore, from this discourse, 
as well as from other testimony that in connection 
with the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, the 
resurrection of the body, and a day of judgment, the 
Jews generally held to that of an intermediate state, 
or abode of spirits, between death and the resurrec- 
tion. This place they called sTieol in Hebrew, and 
hades in Greek ; and described it as the common re- 
ceptacle of both the righteous and the wicked, haying 
separate apartments for each, viz., Abraham's bosom 
for the righteous, and Tartarus or Gehenna for the 
wicked. 

Now such being the current theology upon the sub- 
ject among the Jews — the Pharisees at least — how 
must they have understood the parable of the rich 
man and Lazarus ? Who can read it now, in the 
light of the known belief of those to whom it was ad- 
dressed, and not perceive that it is built upon their 
acknowledged doctrine of an intermediate state; and 
is a virtual endorsement of it ? Take for instance the 
part of the parable from the 22d to the 26th verses 
inclusive. 

" And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and 
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the 
rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he 
lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abra- 
ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he 
cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, 
and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his 
finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tor- 
mented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, re- 
member that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good 



112 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he 
is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all 
this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed : 
so that they which would pass from hence to you 
cannot ; neither can they pass to us, that would come 
from thence." 

After describing the abode of the righteous in 
hades, Josephus says, " This place we call the bosom 
of Abraham." So in the parable, and according to 
the Jewish belief as described by Josephus, as soon as 
Lazarus dies he is taken in charge by good angels, and 
conveyed to Abraham's bosom. 

"The Jews from whom the phrase is borrowed, 
spoke of all true believers as going to Abraham, as 
being in his bosom. To be in Abraham's bosom was 
equivalent with them to the being 'in the garden of 
Eden,' or ' under the throne of glory,' the being 
gathered unto the general receptacle of happy but 
waiting souls. The expression already existing 
among them, received here the sanction and seal of 
Christ, and has come thus to be accepted by the 
church, which has understood by it in like manner 
the state of painless expectation, of blissful repose, 
which should intervene between the death of the faith- 
ful in Christ Jesus, and their perfect consummation 
and bliss at his coming in his glorious kingdom. It 
is the ' Paradise ' of Luke xxiii. 43. the place of the 
souls under the altar, Rev. vi. 9 ; it is, as some dis- 
tinguish it, blessedness, but not glory. "* 

The rich man also dies, but in hell [hades) he lifts 
up his eyes, not being in "Abraham's bosom," but 
"in torment." Abraham's bosom was just as much 

* Trench's Xotes on the Parables, pp. 376, 377. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



113 



in hell, (that is, in hades, or the place of departed 
spirits,) as was the place of "torment." Mark, also, 
that they are represented as within sight and hearing 
of each other, though there is an impassable gulf be- 
tween them; and that the time for alleviating each 
other's sufferings, and for exerting an influence on 
earth is forever past. 

"Abraham's bosom is not heaven, though it will 
issue in heaven ? neither is hades 'hell, 1 though to 
issue in it when death and hades shall be cast into the 
lake of fire, which is the proper hell. Rev. xx. 14. 
It is a place of restraint where the souls of the 
wicked are reserved to the judgment of the great 
day, &c."* 

So fully then do the leading features of this para- 
ble answer to the Jewish theology concerning an in- 
termediate state, that when we consider to whom it 
was addressed, we conclude, not only that it was 
based upon that doctrine, but that our Lord intended 
thereby to endorse the doctrine of an intermediate 
state, upon which the parable is so obviously founded. 

VII. The words of our Lord to the penitent thief, 
" To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," Luke 
xxiii. 43, seem also to imply an intermediate state. 
That this penitent was a Jew and not a Pagan, is evi- 
dent from his words to the other thief, " Dost not 
thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemna- 
tion ?" He must, therefore, have understood the word 
Paradise, as used by our Lord in its ordinary Jewish 
acceptation. Primarily it denoted the garden of 
Eden,f from which it came to be used for any place 

* Trench's Notes on the Parables, p. 379. 
f J osephus' Antiquities of the Jews, book I. Chap. I. 
8 



114 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of " pleasure or delight;" and it is obviously here 
used by the Saviour to denote the abode of happy 
souls after death. It was then " about the ninth 
hour," or near three o'clock, P. M., and the promise, 
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise,'' im- 
ported that before that Jewish day, which would end 
at six o'clock, was closed, the soul of the praying 
penitent should be with the soul of the Redeemer, in 
the abode of departed spirits. 

That this promise was literally fulfilled is certain. 
The only remaining question, is, Where is Paradise? 
Does it here mean heaven, in the final sense of that 
term, or simply the abode of happy souls in hades, 
the place of the departed ? 

Whatever will help to determine where the soul of 
Christ was while his body lay in the grave, will tend 
in the same measure, to determine where the soul of 
the penitent thief was, and whether there is or is not 
an intermediate place of souls, distinct from heaven 
and hell, where they remain till after the final judg- 
ment. Let us inquire, then, what light the Scrip- 
tures throw upon the first of these questions. 

1. In the sixteenth Psalm we have the following 
prophecy of the resurrection of Christ : — 

" I have set the Lord always before me : because 
he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. There- 
fore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth : my 
flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave 
my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy 
One to see corruption." 

2. In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, St. Peter distinctly applies this passage to Christ 
and his resurrection : — 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



115 



" For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw 
the Lord always before my face ; for he is on my 
right hand, that I should not be moved : therefore 
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad ; more- 
over also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou 
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer 
thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made 
known to me the ways of life ; thou shalt make me 
full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, 
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, 
that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is 
with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, 
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, 
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, 
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne : he. see- 
ing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, 
that his soul ivas not left in hell, neither his flesh did 
see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, 
whereof we all are witnesses." 

The soul of Christ, then, was in hades — the place 
of departed spirits — while his body lay in the grave ; 
and as Paradise, according to the Jewish idea, was a 
department of hades, the promise to the penitent thief 
and the remark of the apostle ("'his soul was not left 
in hell" — hades,) are in perfect keeping with the idea 
that the Paradise to which Christ went, and where he 
met the soul of the penitent thief, was in hades, or 
the separate place of souls, and not in the final abode 
of the righteous after the resurrection.* 

3. In the seventeenth Psalm the Hebrew word trans- 
lated " hell" is sheoL which simply means the state or 
place of the dead, without reference to their happiness 

* See Pearson on the Creed, American edition, page 346 and onward. 



116 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



or misery ; and in Acts ii. 27, 31, the Greek word 
hades, also rendered "hell," has the same general 
meaning. The soul of Christ was not left in slieol or 
hades, whither it had gone, but came back to re-enter 
the body it had left, which was not suffered to see 
corruption. It is clear then, that the "Paradise" 
where the soul of the penitent thief met that of Christ, 
was in hades, where the soul of Christ was, but from 
which it came at his resurrection. " Thou wilt not 
leave my soul in hades." 

4. Although the expression "lam not yet ascended," 
John xx. 17, probably relates to the ascension of the 
body of Christ to heaven, it seems hardly compatible 
with the idea that his soul ascended thither while his 
body lay in the grave. It appears much more in 
harmony with the ancient confession that his soul 
" descended into hell," or hades, the place of departed 
souls, and did not ascend to the heaven of glory 
where the righteous shall dwell forever. 

5. So also of the expression, " For David is not yet 
ascended into the heavens," no doubt relates mainly 
to his body ; that is to say, it is a denial that the pro- 
phecy just cited had been fulfilled in David by his resur- 
rection. And yet the statement seems hardly consis- 
tent with the popular idea that the soul of David had 
at that time been in the heaven of heavens more than 
a thousand years. But upon the hypothesis of an in- 
termediate state all is clear. He was in "Paradise" 
or "Abraham's" bosom, as was the soul of Christ 
while his body lay in the grave ; but yet, he "is not 
ascended into heaven," and will not so ascend till his 
body is raised in glory. Then, like their glorious 
" forerunner," the saints of God shall ascend far above 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



117 



all heavens, to the eternal mansions prepared for 
them. All these considerations go to show that the 
words of Christ to the penitent thief imply what is 
called an " Intermediate State." 

VIII. Despite the plausibility of the popular theory 
that souls go either to heaven or hell as soon as the body 
dies, the Holy Scriptures certainly seem to teach the 
doctrine of an intermediate place of souls, called 
sheol and liades^ distinct from heaven and hell, and 
where souls remain from death to the resurrection — 
that this intermediate place embraces Paradise and 
Tartarus, the separate abodes of the spirits of the 
righteous and the wicked — that hades is but a tem- 
porary abode of souls, from which all shall come 
forth in the resurrection, when hades and the 
grave shall both be abolished; — and that following 
the abolition of hades, and the grave, will come the 
general judgment, when the wicked will be cast into 
Tartarus or Grehenna, (hell itself,) and the righteous 
exalted to the heaven of heavens, to be forever with 
the Lord. 

This view not only explains such Scriptures as "no 
man hath ascended up to heaven," etc.; but it seems 
to harmonize the order of events at the end of time, 
and to vindicate the reasonableness and moral gran- 
deur of the Day of Judgment. It also greatly exalts 
our ideas of the final rewards of the blessed, to con- 
ceive that none enter upon them till the last traces 
of the effects of sin are wiped away by raising even 
the bodies of the saints to glory and immortality. 

But that even this theory has its difficulties, we are 
free to admit ; though they seem to us less formidable 
than those which beset the prevailing popular theology. 



118 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



To the common objection that this view dims the 
believer's hope, and dampens the ardor of his celestial 
longings, by .obscuring his immediate prospects after 
death ; and deferring the bestowment of his " crown 
of life," till the resurrection, we answer; that it can 
only be the case where the theory of an intermediate 
state is misunderstood. The believer's conceptions of 
his future rest are derived from the descriptions of 
the Bible — the robes of white — the palms of victory — 
the harps of gold — the crowns of life, and songs of 
everlasting joy. But suppose all this is but a de- 
scription of Paradise, and not of the final and eternal 
mansions ? Suppose it should turn out that eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard but little as yet even in the 
Scriptures, of that "far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory," which lies beyond the resurrection 
morning ? 

In the viith chapter of Revelation we have a de- 
scription of the great multitude who stand before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, 
and with palms in their hands. 

In the xxth chapter, verses 12-15, we have a de- 
scription of the resurrection and judgment. The 
former, therefore, if descriptive of the happiness of 
the righteous in another life, must be understood 
to relate only to the intermediate state, and not to 
the heaven that shall follow the Day of Judgment. 
This last seems to be more especially described in 
Chapter xxi. ; for immediately after the description 
of the resurrection and general judgment, Chapter xx., 
we have an account of "a new heaven and a new 
earth," the first heaven, as well as the first earth 
having passed away. Then follows a description of 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 



119 



" the holy city, New Jerusalem," the everlasting home 
of all whose names are written in the Lamb's Book 
of Life. Now, what are we to understand by the 
idea that the first heaven is to pass away, to be suc- 
ceeded by the New Jerusalem, if it be not that ' ; Para- 
dise" or " Abraham's bosom," is to be abolished after 
the resurrection, to be followed bv a more glorious 
mansion, as the final abode of the saints ? May not 
what we see in Rev. vii., be only as the porter's lodge, 
down by the gates of immortality, while the glorious, 
heavenly mansion is as yet hidden or but dimly seen 
amid the unrevealed glory beyond ? 

Not a shadow is thrown across the flowery plains of 
Paradise, by the idea of another and more perfect 
rest hereafter. Oh no ! Let the Christian still gaze 
in rapture upon the white-robed company who triumph 
there. Let him listen to their immortal rejoicings. 
Let him know that to all this his freed spirit shall be 
exalted the moment it leaves the earthly tabernacle. 
Let him hope and long for this rest, as he may, and 
he shall not be disappointed. But let him also know, 
that when Christ shall descend from heaven to raise 
the dead, and judge all men — when their salvation 
shall thus be perfected, and he shall say to the righte- 
ous, " inherit the kingdom ;" then shall he enter a 
world of beauty and splendor to which Paradise, with 
all its joys, has been but a faint and imperfect shadow : 
and then shall he know " the far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." And having entered upon 
this his glorious dwelling-place, he shall go out no 
more ; but shall be forever with the Lord. 

And so of the sinner. The " torments" of hades 
are but the beginning of his sorrow. For when his 



120 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



body has been raised as Christ has said " unto the 
resurrection of damnation," John v. 29, then and not 
till then shall he be punished with " everlasting de- 
struction ;" — and depart into " everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels/' 

From all these considerations, then, we believe the 
doctrine of an " Intermediate State;" or separate 
abode of souls between death and the resurrection, to 
be a doctrine of the Bible ; and to be taught and re- 
ceived as such. It explains all those Scriptures 
which speak of the rewarding of the saints at the 
resurrection, without implying that they have no 
conscious existence till then ; and is in other respects 
a most " wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort."* 

* For a more extended treatment of the subject the reader is referred 
to Bishop Hobart's " State of the Departed," and to Pierson on the 
Creed. 



IMMORTALITY NOT THROUGH FAITH. 121 



CHAPTER IX. 

IMMORTAL EXISTENCE NOT A RESULT OF FAITH IN 
CHRIST. 

Unlike the open Deism of the past, the modern 
theory of annihilation rests largely upon the assump- 
tion that the penalty of sin is extinction of being. 
The idea that the wicked will be annihilated at the 
day of judgment is especially dependent upon the 
former assumption. The theory is that the penalty 
of sin, in the first instance, and onward, is 44 death," 
in the sense of annihilation ; and that, consequently, 
all who fail of salvation through faith in Christ, will 
finally go out of existence. 

Mr. Dobney, an able English writer, and the apostle 
of this school of theologians, is thus clear and explicit 
upon the first part of this theory. Commenting upon 
Gen. ii. 17, 44 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
shalt surely die," he says : — 

44 The very words would seem to shut us up to the 
idea that utter destruction, cessation of existence, re- 
turn to that nothingness out of which the divine 
power had called him, was the death threatened to 
our first father in case of transgression." 

Again: — 44 We find ourselves imperatively com- 
pelled to believe that the sentence pronounced in case 



122 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of transgression, considered in itself, and as it must 
have been understood by Adam, and as it was ex- 
pounded by the Judge himself, and was illustrated in 
the banishment from the life-sustaining tree, * * * 
conveyed the sole idea of cessation of existence — a 
return to that blank nothingness out of which he was 
brought — and that unless a remedial system had 
mercifully intervened, when Adam died there would 
have been an utter and everlasting extinction of his 
conscious being." 

Still again : — " The death threatened to Adam was 
the death of the entire man, the cessation of all con- 
scious existence, etc."* 

Mr. Ellis, an American advocate of annihilation, 
reiterates the same view : — " The penalty threatened, 
was to end in death ; and God's interpretation of it 
plainly declared, that it would result in death, a 
gradual returning to the primitive elements of his 
being, the dust ; and the facts show that it did result 
in death, in the entire extinction of his being.' 'f 

Mr. Hudson, another American advocate of the 
future annihilation of the wicked, seems to adopt the 
same views, though he has nowhere stated them with 
equal clearness. 

But there are two classes of theorists in this country, 
who, while they unite in denying the immortality of 
man, differ widely as to the grounds of this denial. 
One class, like Messrs. Storrs, and Ellis, and Has- 
tings regard the soul as a material essence — in fact as 
part of the body — and as having no existence whatever 
when the animal organism is dissolved. 

* Dobney on Future Punishment, pp. 128. 134, 135. 
t Bible ^Tradition, p. 62. 



IMMORTALITY NOT THROUGH FAITH. 



123 



One of Mr. Ellis' chapters is entitled, " Proof from 
the Bible of the corporeal nature and mortality of the 
soul of man, etc." " The very highest nature," says 
he, " that man has, irrespective of Christ and the resur- 
rection, is flesh, an evanescent wind."* When the 
body is raised again, say they, the soul also will live 
again ; and not before ; and when at the judgment the 
wicked are " burned up," their souls will go out of 
being as they did at the first or natural death of the 
body ; and will live no more forever. Now, if the 
first assumption were true, viz. : the materiality of the 
spirit of man, all else might follow. The soul might 
cease to live when the body died, and only live again 
when the body was raised ; and if the body was again 
dissolved, by fire or any other means, the soul might 
perish with it. But the main point being an errone- 
ous assumption, all that is built upon it must be with- 
out foundation. 

But there are other annihilationists who cannot 
quite adopt the idea that the soul is material, and 
are, therefore, compelled to admit its conscious exist- 
ence separate from and independent of the body ; but 
who nevertheless hold that the wicked will be anni- 
hilated at the Day of Judgment. Of this class is Mr. 
C. F. Hudson. "The writer," says he, "with many 
others, regards the soul not as a mere result of the 
physical organism, nor as dying with the body. By 
reason of the Redemption, or in some other divine 
economy, the entire sentence of death is divided in 
the case of those who incur it, the soul finally perish- 
ing in the so-called 4 second death.' "t 

This theory is, if possible, more absurd than that 

* Treatise, pp. 15, 20. t Christ our Life. p. 3. 



124 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of Mr. Storrs ; for if. as Mr. Hudson admits, the soul 
is to such an extent indestructible as to survive the 
dissolution of the body, and live for ages independent 
of it. that fact of itself furnishes a strong presumption 
against its subsequent annihilation, by any catas- 
trophe that may overtake it. 

Besides, the theory of "dividing" the penalty is. 
to say the least, a theological novelty, an invention to 
give a show of consistency to a discordant theological 
system. The original decree was "ix the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die." Orthodox 
Christians believe the death threatened to have been 
spiritual, a loss of God's favour and falling under the 
curse of his broken law. and that it fell upon Adam 
and Eve that day. as God had threatened. But those 
who. like Mr. Hudson, make the death threatened to 
consist of annihilation^ are obliged either to deny that 
the penalty ever visited the transgressors, or to defer 
its execution till the body dies : and then, if they find 
the soul outliving the body, must follow that up to 
the last day. and thus complete their work of annihi- 
lation ! Thus "the sentence is divided" by all the 
years that lie between the natural death of the first 
sinner, when his body perished, and the day of Judg- 
ment, when his "death" is completed by the annihila- 
tion of his soul ! 

Upon this theory the meaning of the passage "in 
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."' 
would be. " thou shalt surely die sooner or later, thy 
body at the end of near a thousand years. (Gen. v. 4. ) 
and the soul after some six thousand years more, i. e. 
at the day of Judgment.*' Surely, this is not only 



IMMORTALITY NOT THROUGH FAITH. 



125 



u dividing," but deferring, and as we think strangely 
distorting " the sentence of death." 

But to come to the particular subject of this chap- 
ter. It is admitted that the everlasting life promised 
the righteous, and the " death" with which the finally 
impenitent are threatened, are conditional. "He 
that believeth in the Son of God shall not perish, but 
hare everlasting life." Christ is. indeed, "our life," 
— the living bread that came down from heaven, of 
which if we eat Ave shall live forever. And so. on the 
other hand, " the wages of sin is death :" and he that 
believeth not the Son. shall not see life, but the wrath 
of God abideth on him. 

But the question is. what do "life" and "death"' 
mean, when used to denote the results of faith in 
Christ on the one hand, and of unbelief on the other ? 
The whole controversy turns upon the settlement of 
this question. If "everlasting life," means continued 
existence merely, and " death" means annihilation, 
the question is settled. Immortality is not a destiny 
but a privilege, to be secured by faith. But if the 
terms " life" and " death" as thus employed, are used 
metaphorically, to indicate salvation, or deliverance 
from spiritual death on the one hand, and " damna- 
tion," or the " second death" on the other, then the 
hypothesis of a conditional immortality finds no sup- 
port from the doctrine of conditional life and death. 

That the terms above referred to. are used meta- 
phorically, to indicate conditions of being, and not ex- 
istence or non-existence, is obvious from the follow- 
ing considerations. 

I. In metaphorical language we call one object or 
quality or event by the name of another, on account 



126 THE IMMORTALITY 01 THE SOUL. 



of the resemblance between the two. Thus Christ is a 
"rock" a "vine," a ••lamb." kc. And as the 
elements of language are derived from things terres- 
trial and visible, all ideas in regard to the spiritual 
and unseen world must needs be conveyed to us in 
terms first employed in reference to things tem- 
poral and material. Hence it is that heaven itself is 
described as a " city" and ** country," and even the 
soul of man can find no more etherial word with 
which to clothe itself, than that which represents the 
intangible and invisible atmosphere. 

And so in regard to the terms '"life'' and " death." 
when used to indicate rewards and punishments. As 
life is the most precious boon known to mortals here, 
it is employed in the Scriptures to represent the ines- 
timable blessings which God has in reserve for the 
righteous : and as death is regarded as the most 
dreaded of all earthly calamities to the body, it is em- 
ployed to represent the great calamity to the soul in a 
coming life — its banishment from God's presence for 
ever. 

II. If the term "life," when employed as above 
stated, means simple existence, and " death" non-exist- 
ence, then the Scriptures should never employ any 
terms or phrases, when speaking of the results of faith 
or unbelief in this life, other than such as convey this 
meaning, and may be substituted by the term immor- 
tal on the one hand and annihilation on the other. 
But such is not the fact. "He that believeth not, 
shall be damned." said Christ. Xow who will affirm 
that the damnation here spoken of is not the final re- 
ward of unbelief, or that it does not distinctly im- 
port a malediction resting upon a still living soul 



IMMORTALITY NOT THROUGH FAITH. 



127 



Will it do to render the sentence, " He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be immortal, and he that believeth 
not, shall be annihilated ?" Every one can see, by this 
experiment, that the words " saved" and " damned" 
are not used in the sense of made immortal and anni- 
hilated ; and consequently that such do not constitute 
the reward and penalty of unbelief, or of a life of 
sin. 

III. If the final " death" of the sinner were annihila- 
tion, then every description of that death should indi- 
cate not only freedom from all suffering for ever, but 
the termination of all existence. It would be as mis- 
leading to employ terms and figures and parables con- 
veying an idea of suffering beyond the day of judg- 
ment, as it would to speak of our suffering ages before 
we had existence. But what are the facts ? When 
the righteous enter " life eternal" the wicked " go 
away into everlasting punishment." Can that mean 
annihilation? And if so, how is it " everlasting V 5 
How is it, if the wicked go out of being, that "their 
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched V How 
is it that we hear the voice of weeping and wailing 
and gnashing of teeth from souls that have been 
stricken out of existence ? 

IV. If it had been the design of Christ and his 
apostles to teach that the penalty of sin is annihilation, 
while continued being was the reward of piety, a doc- 
trine of so much importance would not have been 
confined to the use of the terms life and death, (which 
have never been understood to imply simple existence 
and non-existence, except by the Deist and the unen- 
lightened heathen) but would have been expressed in 
other words, as the true sense of these terms now is. 



128 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



The righteous are to " inherit the kingdom" — to 
" sit down in the kingdom of God" — to walk with 
Christ in white, etc., all as elements of salvation and 
results of saving faith in Christ ; but by no terms or 
figures is the idea ever conveyed that their salvation 
consists either wholly or in part in deliverance from 
annihilation. They praise God that their robes have 
been washed, and made white in the blood of the 
Lamb ; that is, that they have been fitted for a blissful 
eternity; but never for release from utter extinction. 
No such danger ever threatened them, and they 
praise God and the Lamb for no such deliverance. 

And aside from the terms "die" and "death," 
neither of which imply annihilation, there is not a 
warning or admonition in all the Bible that enforces 
faith in Christ by the threat of annihilation. The 
appeal is always to the more terrible and consequently 
more potent consideration of endless banishment from 
God, and from the glory of his power. 

V. Those who insist that the term " death" as applied 
to the sinner in a future state, implies annihilation, 
ought to be able to show that such is its meaning 
when applied to man in this world ; that is, that when 
a wicked man, at least, dies in this world he ceases to 
exist. But instead of this Mr. Hudson admits that 
his soul lives on for ages, though in the language of 
earth he is dead. If, then, the term does not imply 
non-existence in its original application, by what 
stretch of interpretation is it made to signify extinc- 
tion of being in another life ? 

Even the materialist, who holds to the future re- 
surrection and annihilation of the wicked, does not 
regard natural death as an annihilation. Though 



IMMORTALITY NOT THROUGH FAITH. 



129 



their theory might logically compel them to regard it 
in this light, nevertheless, they keep up the personal 
identity in some way, from death to the resurrection; 
— a supposition utterly irreconcilable with the idea 
that natural death is annihilation. To such also we 
may ask with equal propriety, why do you under- 
stand the terms "death" and "die" to imply cessa- 
tion of being? Is it not a meaning foreign to their 
original import even according to your own admissions ? 

Prom age to age and from pole to pole the term 
"death" when applied to man here has been under- 
stood to mean a certain condition of being, and not 
non-existence. And so you still understand it. 
Why, then, do you not understand it in the same 
sense when applied to man in a future state; that is, 
as imparting a circumstance or quality of existence, 
rather than annihilation? 

Such is beyond all question the sense in which the 
term is employed in the Bible; so that when "life" is 
promised to such as believe in Christ, it does not 
mean immortal existence merely, but eternal happi- 
ness. Hence, future happiness alone is conditioned 
upon faith in Christ, and not our future being. Con- 
sequently the future non-existence of the wicked 
cannot follow for lack of a vital connection with 
Christ, by faith in him. He is " our life " in that he 
restores the soul to spiritual life by his Spirit, raises 
our bodies from the dead, and finally crowns the 
righteous with glory in heaven. But our immortal ex- 
istence is not made dependent upon the reception or 
rejection of salvation through his name. We shall 
exist forever, whether in happiness through faith in 
Christ and a holy life, or in misery through a life 
0 



130 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of sin, and the rejection of offered mercy through Him, 
the only Saviour. 

But there are yet other views of the doctrine of 
annihilation which will require to be considered in a 
distinct chapter. 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 131 



CHAPTER X, 

SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED AT THE DAY 
OF JUDGMENT. 

Though the particular subject of this chapter is 
not necessarily connected with the question whether 
or not the soul survives the death of the body, still as 
the doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked is often 
taught in connection with that of the sleep or death 
of souls, and is directly opposed to the idea of an 
unending existence after death, we deem it proper to 
devote a few pages to its special consideration. 

The prevailing belief among Christians, is, that 
when Christ again appears he will raise all the dead — 
the just and the unjust — that they will all be sum- 
moned before his judgment-seat and judged; and that 
the wicked shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment, while the righteous will inherit eternal life. 
But the new theory recently promulgated, asserts 
that the wicked, having been raised from the dead 
and judged, will then be stricken out of being, or 
utterly annihilated.* So far as we are aware, this 

* Materialists are not exactly agreed upon this particular point. Mr. 
Ellis, in his "Bible vs. Tradition" contends that the wicked shall cease 
to exist, but dodges the question whether or not they shall be raised 
from the dead. See page 234, where he asks in capitals, "Will the 
wicked dead be raised to life again ?" but leaves it unanswered. 



132 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



doctrine is confined almost exclusively to the class of 
Second Adventists already alluded to; and as they 
profess to found their belief upon this point also 
upon the Scriptures, it may be well to notice some 
of the more prominent passages upon which they de- 
pend. 

I. Those Scriptures that speak of the wicked as to 
be "destroyed," are claimed as teaching that they 
shall be annihilated. But destruction and annihila- 
tion are very different things. A thing is said to be 
destroyed when it is seriously injured. Thus St. 
Paul said, "Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom 
Christ died," Rom. xiv. 15; but surely he did not 
mean to warn the Romans against annihilating each 
other. So Christ came to destroy the Devil, Heb. ii. 
14; but did he annihilate him? And do the wicked 
who "destroy the earth," Rev. xi. 18, annihilate the 
earth ? Though the term is used in a great variety 
of senses it never means to annihilate; consequently 
the threatened destruction of the wicked is no proof 
of their approaching annihilation. 

II. It is said the wicked are to "perish," and 
must, therefore, go out of existence. But if we 
attach this sense to the term perish, we can prove not 
only the annihilation of the wicked, but of the right- 
So far as he has shown to the contrary, he believed that when a sinner 
dies, that is the end of him forever. Mr. Dobney and Mr. Hudson, on 
the contrary, are plainly committed to a general resurrection, and the 
subsequent annihilation of the wicked ; while Mr. Storrs teaches the 
resurrection of all, and the subsequent annihilation of all wicked men 
and devils. He says, "the death which is the wages of sin is — an 
actual extermination of being ;" and also that the wicked "are not pun- 
ished till after the judgment of the great day." Sermons, pp. 16, 17. 
Of course, then, their annihilation does not take place till after they 
are raised from the dead. 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 133 



eous also. "There is a just man that per isheth in his 
righteousness;" Eccl. vii. 15. "The righteous perish- 
eth and no man layeth it to heart;" Isa. lvii. 1. St. 
Peter says, 2d Epistle, iii. 6, that "the world being 
overflowed with water, perished." But was the globe 
then annihilated? Of the "heavens" and the 
"earth," it is said, "they shall perish;" Heb. i. 11; 
and yet when this perishing is explained, it is said, 
"and they shall be changed." They perish, but are 
not annihilated. So of the wicked — they shall perish, 
that is, they shall be condemned and sent away into 
everlasting punishment, but their existence, like that 
of the old world which perished by water, shall con- 
tinue on forever and ever. 

III. Several passages that speak of the wicked as 
to be "consumed," are urged in proof of their annihi- 
lation. But this term, like destroy and perish, is 
never used in the sense of annihilated. "I shall one 
day be consumed by the hand of Saul," said David, 
1 Sam. xxvii. 1; but surely he did not expect Saul to 
annihilate him. So the Psalmist said, "Mine eye is 
consumed," Psa. vi. 7; and "My bones are consumed," 
Psa. xxxi. 10; and yet neither his eye nor his bones 
were annihilated. Of man as a race it is said, "For 
we are consumed by thine anger," Psa. xc. 7, though 
the race yet lived ; and God said of the children of 
Israel, "I have consumed them in mine anger;" 
though they were then living by hundreds of thousands. 
"Take heed," says the apostle, "that ye be not con- 
sumed one of another." Gal. v. 15. Does the word 
"consumed," then, mean annihilated? 

IV. But it is said, " The wicked are to be burned 
up, which must mean, put out of existence." By no 



184 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



means. Literal burning annihilates nothing. The 
wood may be decomposed, and its elements scattered 
in the form of flame, and vapor, and smoke, and 
ashes, but nothing goes out of existence by the pro- 
cess of combustion. Hence, " burning up" never 
implies annihilation. 

Besides; The passages that most strongly assert 
the burning up of the wicked, are found in the last 
chapter of Malachi : 

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as 
an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do 
wickedly, shall be stubble : and the day that cometh 
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it 
shall leave them neither root nor branch." 

"And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall 
be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that 
I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." 

And yet, this predicted burning up was all accom- 
plished at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, 
when few, if any of the wicked were literally burned, 
and not one of them literally became as ashes under 
the feet of the Christians. 

Of the latter it was said, " But unto you that fear 
my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with 
healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow 
up as calves of the stall." Accordingly they all 
escaped unhurt. But the Jews were slaughtered in 
great numbers, and their city, Jerusalem, was laid 
waste. And this is described in the glowing language 
of prophecy as "burning them up;" and making them 
as "ashes under the soles of their feet." 

That the above is the true meaning of the passages 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 135 



cited, is evident from the last two verses of the 
chapter: — "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet 
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of 
the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the father 
to the children, and the heart of the children to 
* their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a 
curse." 

Now this Elijah, or Elias, who came, was John the 
Baptist. Gabriel had said of him before his birth, 
"And he shall go before him [Christ] in the spirit 
and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers 
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of 
the just; to make ready a people prepared for the 
Lord." Our Saviour said, "For all the prophets 
and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will 
receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." Matt, 
xi. 13, 14. 

"And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes 
that Elias must first come ? And he answered and 
told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all 
things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that 
he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. 
But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and 
they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it 
is written of him." Mark ix. 11-13. 

John was Elias metaphorically, because he had "the 
spirit and power of Elias." And he was sent "before 
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the 
Lord," when he visited his chosen people with sore 
judgments, and made Mount Zion a perpetual desola- 
tion. It is evident, therefore, that this "burning 
up" of the wicked, upon which modern Annihilation- 
ists depend so much, not only falls infinitely short 



136 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of the annihilation of anything, but has no reference 
whatever to the day of judgment, or the final destruc- 
tion of the wicked. 

Several other terms employed in the Scriptures to 
represent the punishment of the wicked, such as that 
they shall he "slain" "devoured" "blotted out" 
u hewn down," "cut off," etc., are urged as teaching 
the doctrine of annihilation ; but such a use of these 
terms is so evident a perversion of their meaning that 
it would be a waste of time to consider them in detail. 
They are all of the same general class and import, 
when applied to the punishment of the sinner, and 
can never, by any fair construction, be pressed into 
the service of annihilationism. 

V. The notion that the wicked are first to be raised 
from the dead and then struck out of existence, as the 
punishment for their sins, is not only without warrant 
from the Holy Scriptures, but is liable to many other 
insuperable objections. 

1. It is in direct conflict with Eccl. iii. 14: "I 
know that v whatsoever God doeth, it shall stand for- 
ever: nothing can be put to it. nor anything taken 
from it : and God doeth it, that men should fear be- 
fore him." That this passage relates to the doings 
of Jehovah in the work of creation, is obvious from 
the fact that it is true of him in no other respect. 
"Whatsoever God doeth." in creating, "shall stand 
forever;' 5 — shall never go out of existence. "Nothing 
can be put to it" — no being can add to the creation 
of God, — "nor anything taken from it" — nothing 
which God ushers into being can be uncreated, or put 
out of being. "And God doeth it that men should 
fear before him" — that is, that they may know that 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 137 



they shall forever exist, and may fear the unending 
consequences of a life of sin. But the wicked have 
little to "fear" if the worst that awaits them after 
death is an eternity of non-existence ! Such an 
object of fear is precisely like the vacuity of being 
which filled eternal ages before our existence began. 

2. This theory makes no distinction between the 
state of the sinner before and after the day of judg- 
ment. It generally assumes that their souls go out 
of existence at death ; are re-produced by the resur- 
rection; and then sent back again into non-existence, 
precisely as they were before they were raised. To 
what, then, does their condemnation and punishment 
amount, if they were suffering precisely the same 
penalty before as after the resurrection ? They are 
simply raised up from the fathomless abyss of non- 
existence, to be plunged back again into the same 
infinite depths, to remain there forever ! 

3. This theory consigns the righteous to the same 
punishment from death to the resurrection, (which in 
some cases must be many thousand years,) which is 
inflicted upon the wicked in the last day. The souls 
of the righteous are said to become extinct with the 
death of the body. Not only does all consciousness 
cease, but their very being ends. And this is all that 
the wicked are said to suffer after the day of judg- 
ment. They are simply sent back where the right- 
eous were from death to the resurrection ! 

4. The doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked 
is contrary to the Scripture doctrine of degrees of 
punishment in a future state. Christ said, ""Woe 
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 
devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long 



188 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



prayer : therefore ye shall receive the greater damna- 
tion," Matt, xxiii. 14; implying that there are de- 
grees of " damnation," or punishment, in reserve for 
the wicked. 

Again he said, " And that servant, which knew his 
lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did 
according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy 
of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto 
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much re- 
quired ; and to whom men have committed much, of 
him they will ask the more." Luke xii. 47, 48. The 
"stripes," or punishment, is to be proportioned to 
the knowledge and guilt of the individual sinner. 

To the same effect is the statement, Rev. xx. 12, 
that men are to be judged " according to their 
works;" and Rev. xxii. 12, that they are to be re- 
warded upon the same principle; "And, behold, I 
come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." These 
passages plainly involve the doctrine of degrees of 
punishment, for sins committed in this life. The 
hypocritical Pharisee, who, for a pretence makes 
long prayers, and yet devours widows' houses, is to 
receive a "greater damnation" than the common 
sinner. Some are to be beaten with few stripes, and 
some with many, according to their guilt. 

But how can this be true if the wicked are to be 
annihilated ? Are there any degrees in annihilation ? 
Certainly not. Consequently if that is the penalty 
of sin, the punishment of all would be precisely alike, 
in direct opposition to the word of God. 

5. The apostle speaks, Heb. x. 28, 29, of a "much 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 139 



sorer punishment" than death. " He that despised 
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three 
witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose 
ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden 
under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, 
an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit 
of grace ?" 

But if death is the extinction of conscious being, 
and this is to be the penalty visited upon the wicked 
after they are raised and judged, there is no sorer 
punishment than death. And though those who 
trample under foot the Son of God are "worthy" of a 
"much sorer punishment" than those who rejected 
the law of Moses, still no difference can be made. 
They must all drink the same lethean draught of anni- 
hilation, and go out of being alike and forever. 

6. The penalty of sin is never represented as anni- 
hilation, but always as positive and conscious suffering. 
Take the following passages as specimens : 

Matt. xxv. 30: — "And cast ye the unprofitable 
servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth." 

Luke xii. 28 : — " There shall be weeping and gnash- 
ing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, 
and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 
God, and you yourselves thrust out." 

Luke xvi. 23: — "And in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
being in torments." 

Rom. ii. 8, 9 : — " Indignation and wrath, tribula- 
tion and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." 

Such passages are utterly irreconcilable with the 



140 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



doctrine that the wicked are to be annihilated. 
Their punishment is to consist of "anguish" and 
" torment," — manifesting itself in " weeping and 
gnashing of teeth." 

7. This theory is directly opposed to the plain teach- 
ing of the Scriptures, that the punishment of the 
sinner shall be everlasting.* 

Matt. xxv. 46: — "And these shall go away into 
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life 
eternal." In this text the Greek word rendered 
"everlasting" is aionion — a word which in its proper 
grammatical sense means unending. It is the word 
almost invariably used in the New Testament to 
represent the unending joys of the righteous. Take 
the following instances as examples: 

Matt. xix. 16: — "And behold, one came and said 
unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do 
that I may have eternal life V* 

Mark x. 30: — "But he shall receive an hundred- 
fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and 
sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with 
persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life." 

Luke x. 25: — "And behold, a certain lawyer stood 
up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do 
to inherit eternal life ?" 

John iii. 16: — "For God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting 
life. 71 

Besides, it is the very word used for this purpose 
in the passage first cited: — "But the righteous into 

*For an excellent summary of the Scripture testimony upcn this 
point, see Lee's Theology, pp. 311-331, inclusive. 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OP THE WICKED. 141 



zoen ten aionion — life eternal." The punishment of 
the wicked must be coeval, therefore, with the eternal 
life of the righteous. 

But this cannot be true, if the wicked cease to 
exist just when the joys of the righteous begin. Upon 
this hypothesis their punishment is but for a moment, 
during the process of annihilation, or at most from 
the time they are raised from the dead till they again 
go out of being. 

The only reply that can be made to this objection 
is, that as their non-existence is endless, the punish- 
ment thus becomes eternal. We answer, that punish- 
ment is "pain or suffering inflicted on a person for a 
crime;"* and necessarily implies a subject ; of such pun- 
ishment. Surely the sinner cannot be " punished," 
ages after he has ceased to exist. If, then, he is to 
go away into everlasting "punishment" his existence 
must be unending. 

No punishment or damnation can possibly exist, in 
reference to a being that has no existence. And if 
the wicked are to go away into everlasting punish- 
ment, as the Scriptures affirm, they must exist for- 
ever ; and the idea of their annihilation is erro- 
neous. 

8. The doctrine under consideration is . in direct 
conflict with every description of the day of judgment 
and the punishment of the wicked. To them it is to 
be said, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire," Matt. xxv. 41, and they shall " go away" into 
this " everlasting punishment." How can a being 
that is annihilated "depart" from Christ, or "go 
away" into punishment at all? The unprofitable 

* Webster. 



142 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



servant, verse 30th, is to be " cast into outer dark- 
ness," but not annihilated. The wicked shall be 
"cast into a furnace of fire," Matt. xiii. 50, but in- 
stead of its being the end of their existence, they 
shall still live on; for "there shall be wailing and 
gnashing of teeth." The man who had not on a 
wedding garment, Matt. xxii. 13, was " taken away 
and cast into outer darkness." But here also, was 
"weeping and gnashing of teeth;" i. e., intense and 
conscious suffering. "Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of Grod;" and "he that 
believeth not shall be damned." But in neither case 
is it said that they shall be annihilated. The foolish 
virgins are shut out of heaven, but they still live to 
cry, "Lord, Lord, open to us;" Matt. xxv. 10, 11. 
And those who seek improperly, or too late, and are 
consequently not able to enter in at the strait gate, 
are to "stand without and knock, and say, Lord, Lord, 
open to us." But to all such Christ will say, "De- 
part from me, all ye that work iniquity." Luke xiii. 
24-27. How very different all this from the sentence 
of utter annihilation ! 

9. This doctrine really destroys all personal iden- 
tity in the day of judgment, and all personal respon- 
sibility, on the part of the souls that shall then exist, 
for the acts of the previous life. For if man has no 
soul, distinct from his body, then memory, and know- 
ledge, and moral accountability must be perpetuated 
in the grave, and their seat must be in the moulder- 
ing ashes of the dead, or they can have no perpetuity 
whatever. But as this cannot be, and is denied even 
by Annihilationists themselves, it follows upon their 
own theory, that the accountable moral agent becomes 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 143 



extinct at death. So, if this theory be true, all 
memory, and knowledge, and consciousness, and ac- 
countability are then at an end. 

But when the body is raised again, the power that 
thinks, and reasons, and remembers, is re-produced; 
or rather a soul is evolved ; for it is in fact a neiv 
creation. That which before did not exist is broifght 
into being. Now we should like to know what con- 
nection this conscious spirit can have with the spirit 
or soul of the former body? Is the electricity gen- 
erated by an electrical machine to-day, the same that 
was generated by the same instrument a hundred 
years ago ? 

So of the risen dead: will the souls evolved in the 
resurrection, according to this theory, be the same as 
those evolved by the mortal bodies before they died? 
Will they know what was known by spirits of the 
former bodies, and remember the events of the present 
life ? And if not, wherein consists the identity ? 
What chain connects the resurrection spirit, so to 
speak, with the mortal spirit, or spirit that knew, and 
thought, and remembered in the first body? How 
can the soul of the resurrection body remember what 
took place before it came into existence ? And how 
can it be accountable for what was done by the former 
spirit, that has long before ceased to exist? 

Take away, then, the continued and conscious ex- 
istence of the soul between death and the resurrection, 
and we have no means of personal identity — no link 
connecting the moral and accountable agents of the 
resurrection morning, with those who lived and sinned 
or served God here in the present life. The alleged 
extinction of the soul at death, creates a parenthesis 



144 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of being— a yawning chasm of non-existence, over which 
the spirit shall never wing its backward flight to call 
up the memories of the life it once lived in the body. 

If the theory be true, the soul that is evolved in the 
resurrection, is a new-born soul. It can no more 
know or remember what took place in the body before 
death, than we can remember what took place a 
thousand ages before we existed. Neither can it be 
responsible for anything back of its own conscious 
doings, after it is brought into being by the resurrec- 
tion of the body. Why, then, should it be annihilated ? 
or punished in any manner whatever ? As well might 
Adam have been annihilated an hour after he was 
created, for the rebellion of Satan before the world 
was made. Such are some of the absurdities of this 
attempt to sustain one of the worst features of Deism 
by the word of God. 

10. This doctrine by necessary consequence involves 
the annihilation of all the fallen angels. Hence this 
logical result of the doctrine of the annihilation of the 
wicked, is frankly avowed by at least one of the ad- 
vocates of the latter notion. "The universe of God," 
says Mr. Storrs, "will be purified not only from sin, 
but sinners."* Again, "Christ shall destroy the 
devil — his person, his being;" and the "mighty 
angels" are to "utterly perish," under the "tremen- 
dous" wrath of God.f 

But how is this to be done? The reason assigned 
why human souls do not survive the body, is, that 
they are a part of the body, and are necessarily dis- 
solved with it. But how with the fallen angels ? Have 

*Six Sermons, p. 27. f Ibid.,, p. 334. 



SUPPOSED ANNIHILATION OF THE WICKED. 145 



they bodies, by the dissolution of which they can be 
annihilated ? 

But we have dwelt too long already perhaps, upon 
this absurd attempt to wed some of the cardinal prin- 
ciples of Deism, to the scriptural doctrine of the re- 
surrection of the dead, and the idea of future rewards 
and punishments. "Doth a fountain send forth at 
the same place sweet water and bitter?" Can the 
same book, which teaches from beginning to end that 
the soul of man is immortal, be made to teach that 
"death is an eternal sleep ?"* 

Sad were the life we may part with to-morrow, 

If tears were our birthright, and death were our end. 

And it were quite as well for natural death to be 
"our end," as Deism teaches, as for us to become, so far 
as the body is concerned, the subjects of a momentary 
life by resurrection, merely that we may go out of 
being forever ! 

* The motto that infidel France once wrote over the entrances to her 
grave-yards. 
10 



PART SECOND. 
RATIONAL EVIDENCES OF A FUTURE LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHARACTER AND VALUE OF THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 

We have thus far confined our inquiries to the 
teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Let us now turn 
our attention to what are called the rational evidences 
of man's immortality. 

I. By the rational evidences of a future life, we 
mean such evidences as may be gathered outside of 
the pages of Divine Revelation, by reflection upon the 
facts and phenomena of the natural world; the rela- 
tions of man to the material creation ; the powers and 
susceptibilities of the soul ; and the various phenomena 
of life and death. 

"The evidences of a future state/' says Dr. Dick, 
" which the light of reason affords, though not so clear 
and decisive as those which are derived from Divine 
Revelation, are worthy of the serious consideration 
of every one in whose mind the least doubt remains 
on this important subject. The conviction they are 
calculated to produce, when attentively weighed, is 
sufficient to leave every one without excuse who 
trifles with the concerns of his future destiny, and 
overlooks his relations to the eternal world." 

147 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



'•Though the realities of a future world are not 
presented directly to the eye of sense, yet the facul- 
ties with which man is endowed, when properly ex- 
ercised on all the physical and moral scenes which 
the universe displays, are sufficient to evince the 
highest degree of probability, if not absolute certainty, 
that his duration and his sphere of action are not 
confined to the narrow limits of the present world, 
but have a relation to a future and immortal ex- 
istence." * 

"I am not sure.'' says Dr. Erskine Mason, "in 
these days of physiological research and philosophic 
pride, that it is a waste of time or labor, or an in- 
appropriate work for the advocate of truth to ransack 
the analogies of things, to trace the correspondence 
between the natural and the spiritual, if for no other 
purpose than to show that a skepticism as to ' the 
life to come' has no warrant whatever in any of the 
things which are seen and known as yet."f 

II. The Author of the Bible is the author of 
nature ; hence all true science is in perfect harmony 
with revealed religion. And the fact that in all the 
researches and discoveries of modern times, nothing 
has been found in the realm of nature to contradict 
any portion of the sacred writings, while all other 
ancient writings are in perpetual conflict with modern 
science, is one of the strongest proofs that the Bible 
is from God, the infinite Creator of all things. So 
of each particular truth of revelation: if. upon its 
being announced every fact and phenomena of nature 
is in harmony with it. this circumstance of itself 

* Philosophy of a Future State, Chapter I. 

t Sermon on the Life to Come, Pastor's Legacy,, p. 190. 



CHARACTER OF THE ARGUMENT. 



149 



affords a presumptive and collateral evidence of its 
truth. 

A mysterious murder is committed, and the sup- 
posed criminal is arrested. A theory of the murder 
is set forth by the press, or by the states attorney. 
If that theory is in conflict with any known facts in 
regard to the supposed criminal or his victim, such 
conflict goes far to discredit the theory ; but if, on the 
other hand, the theory is in harmony with and ex- 
plains all the known facts of the case, there at once 
arises a strong presumption of the truth of the 
theory. 

So of all revealed truth, and especially of the 
doctrine of a future state. If it is found to agree 
most wonderfully with all we know of ourselves or 
of the natural world, such agreement goes far to cor- 
roborate the doctrine, and to strengthen in our minds 
the conviction of its truth. 

III. Two errors, we think, have been committed in 
regard to the nature and value of the rational evi- 
dences of man's immortality. First, we deem it a 
mistake to suppose that such evidence is primary ; or 
in other words that it could be discovered or under- 
stood at all, without the light of the Bible first thrown 
upon the problem of our being, and afterward re- 
flected from all the works of God. Until that "star 
of eternity" gilds the scene, all natural intimations 
of immortality are latent. They are like hiero- 
glyphics upon the walls of some dark cavern, existing 
but undecyphered, till the darkness of ages is dis- 
persed by the flambeau of the curious traveler. Then 
only can he see and read them. 

But suppose a gorgeous chandelier, suspended from 



150 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the ceiling of the cavern, had been burning for ages ; 
and suppose, as in some of the mines of the old world, 
one were born and grew up there, and had never 
seen darkness. How natural for him to imagine, as 
he stood with his back to the central luminary, that 
he was not dependent upon it for a knowledge of the 
characters before him. 

So with the Deist. The world has never been 
without revelation of some sort. The lamp from 
heaven has been shining upon our dark world for 
ages. We have had no opportunity to ascertain what 
we could or could not have done, in the absence of its 
beams. And yet the Deist says, "Man shall live 
forever. We learn it from nature, independently of 
all aid from the Bible/ ' Lord Herbert, the apostle 
of English Deism, who affirmed the sufficiency of 
reason and natural religion, and rejected the Bible as 
unnecessary and superfluous, inserted as one of the 
five principles of his natural creed the doctrine of a 
future state of rewards and punishments. 

The celebrated Thomas Paine was orthodox so far 
as the fact of another state of existence is concerned. 
Hence he wrote, "I believe in one God, and no more, 
and hope for happiness beyond this life."* This 
class of Deists read the hieroglyphics aright, but 
ignored the light without which they could never have 
read the first character. 

An aged and otherwise intelligent Deist once 
affirmed in the hearing of the writer, that he was in 
no degree indebted to the Bible for a knowledge of 
God, or of his attributes ; that he had demonstrated 

* This passage taken from his " Age of Reason," is inscribed upon 
his monument at New Rochelle, N. Y. 



CHARACTER OF THE ARGUMENT. 



151 



all originally for himself, without aid or suggestion 
from revelation. When asked how old he was when 
he made the discovery, he fixed the period at twelve 
years ; but when asked where he had lived for twelve 
years without ever hearing of a God, he was con- 
founded. Neither could he tell how it was that he, a 
boy of twelve summers, could infer the being of one 
God, infinite, just, and unchangeable, from his works, 
while the sages of antiquity, with all their vast 
mental resources and discipline, multiplied their 
divinities by thousands, and invested them with 
every hateful attribute and passion of the human 
heart. 

This, then, is the first error, we should rather say 
abuse of the rational evidences of another life — viz. 
to magnify them unduly, and install them in place of 
that only " sure word of prophecy," the sacred Scrip- 
tures.* 

But it may be asked, if immortality may be in- 
ferred from reason and nature, why is not the belief 
universal? "Why were the sages of Greece and Rome 
in doubt, even with the light of a traditional revela- 
tion to aid their perceptions? "I hope," said Soc- 
rates, " I am now going to good men, though this I 
would not take upon me positively to affirm. "f 
" Which of these is true," said Cicero, (referring to 
the two theories of life or no life after death) God 
only knows ; and which is most probable a very great 

* a The evidences of human reason in favor of the immortality of the 
soul have their use : but they are not adapted to the comprehension of 
all. Neither can they, considered separate from Divine revelation, im- 
part a sure hope and confidence." — Heltfenstein's Theology, p. 371. 

f Helffenstein's Theology, p. 15. 



152 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



question." "When I read I assent; but when 1 
have laid down the book, all that assent vanishes/ ' 
All this led Seneca to say, that "Immortality, how- 
ever desirable, was rather promised than proved by 
those great men." 

IV. A second error, in our opinion, and one into 
which not a few writers upon the subject have fallen, 
is to ignore or undervalue the testimony of reason 
and nature to the great and glorious doctrine of Im- 
mortality.* Because the Deist has made too much of 
them ought we to fly to the opposite extreme, and 
make too little of them ? Will it disparage revealed 
religion for us to listen to the voice of nature, whose 
echoes have been first awakened by the voice of God 
from heaven ? Shall we refuse to read or apply the 
inscription upon the wall, lest we disparage the lamp 
by which we read it ? The Bible is the source of all 
true knowledge of God and of a future life. Without 
it there would be no startling traditions, no "Natural 
Theology." 

But while we thus magnify the "lively oracles," 
we are not confined to them. The Deist may reject 
Revelation, but the Christian need not, therefore, 
reject Nature. We are as welcome to all her "testi- 
monies," as is the most ardent disciple of "Natural 
Religion;" and we study them with a Divine inter- 
pretation ; and amid a celestial radiance against which 
he has closed his eyes for ever. 

V. The Rational Evidences of Immortality, to 
which attention is called in the following chapters, is 
not then regarded as primary and independent, but 
rather as evidences made available by Divine Revela- 

* Even some Christian writers have fallen into this error. 



CHARACTER OF THE ARGUMENT. 



153 



tion. It is consequently only collateral to our chief 
source of knowledge, the Holy Scriptures ; and in- 
stead of being a sufficient guide of itself, should only 
be regarded as corroborative of that Book which brings 
life and immortality to light, and alone is able to make 
wise unto salvation. Thus the Bible shines on, peer- 
less in the moral heavens, while the Christian believer 
exults in its undimmed brightness, and rejoices amid 
scenes of beauty and grandeur illumined by its efful- 
gence. But as the moon is made conspicuous and 
beautiful by the light of the sun, so all nature shines 
in the light of the Bible, and thus helps to light up 
the moral universe, by reflecting back upon the human 
heart and understanding its celestial beams. Such 
we conceive to be the nature of the argument drawn 
from reason and nature, and its true relation to the 
clearer light of Divine Revelation, 



154 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER II. 

INDICATIONS OF ANOTHER LIFE IN THE STRUCTURE 
AND PHENOMENA OF THE NATURAL WORLD. 

Read Nature ; Nature is the friend of truth ; 
Nature is Christian ; preaches to mankind, 
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. 

I. A squadron of ships are about to proceed to 
sea, or to engage in battle. Upon almost every ship 
may be seen a man waving a small red and white flag 
in various directions. It may be noticed by a lands- 
man, but of its utility and design he is utterly igno- 
rant. MuGh less can he understand the import or 
meaning of these signal flags and their singular move- 
ments. But tell him that these men with flags belong 
to the signal-corps of the fleet ; and place in his hands 
the manual which explains the import of every flag 
and motion ; and these otherwise unmeaning signals 
become as intelligible as the plainest language ; and 
are invested with equal power to inspire courage, en- 
kindle hope or fill with terror. 

So in regard to many of the facts and phenomena 
of material existence. In the absence of the Bible, 
which brings life and immortality to light, they may 
seem altogether unintelligible and unmeaning ; when 
in the light of that all-perfect manual of creation, 



VARIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 



155 



every important natural phenomenon has its signifi- 
cance, and the whole material universe responds to 
the glorious announcement that man shall live for- 
ever. 

II. Suppose man placed upon our planet with the 
constitution and phenomena of nature as they now 
are. Suppose him subject to death as at present, but 
with no intimation from any source that his brief and 
sad life would ever be renewed or prolonged after 
death. He steps upon our planet amid the glory of 
a bright spring-day, with no instructer and no expe- 
rience. He has never seen night or darkness, and 
knows nothing of them. The sun is on the meridian, 
and for ought that he knows to the contrary, will re- 
main there forever. In a short time, however, he 
notices that the shadows of objects are traveling 
around to the eastward. But this scarcely awakens 
a thought, much less excites alarm. 

A few hours elapse and the sun is fast sinking to- 
wards the western horizon ; the light and heat are 
sensibly diminished ; and a slight foreboding seizes the 
mind of the stranger. Downward still sinks the orb of 
day, till at length his western limb reaches the hori- 
zon and he begins to disappear. The light fades from 
hill and vale and sea and sky, till all nature is wrapped 
in the pall of darkness. 

But as the sun goes down, and darkness takes the 
place of his beams, that very darkness becomes the 
revealer of a scene of glory in the heavens above, of 
which the stranger had before no conception, and 
which with perpetual daylight had never greeted mor- 
tal vision, or filled the human mind with wonder and 
amazement. True, the beholder is surrounded with 



156 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



darkness and gloom, but it seems only ordained be- 
cause needful, to extend his range of vision, and in- 
troduce him early to a knowledge of other and brighter, 
though more distant worlds. Here, then, is the first 
lesson of the first half day of his earthly being. 
Darkness is needful to reveal the unnumbered 
and far-off glories of the celestial concave, and write 
it on the physical universe that the fading of an earth- 
ly glory is but the precursor of a celestial effulgence 
that shall not grow dim with passing ages, but is en- 
during as the pillars of heaven. 

Mysterious Night ! when our first parent knew 

Thee, from report divine, and heard thy name, 

Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, 
This glorious canopy of light and blue? 
Yet, 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, 

Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, 

Hesperus with the host of heaven came ; 
And lo ! creation widen'd in men's view. 

Who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd 
Within thy beams, 0 Sun ! or who could find, 

Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood revealed, 
That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind? 

Why do we then shun death with anxious strife ? 

If light can thus deceive us, may not life ? 

The night rolls on, and man, the stranger just 
placed amid these scenes, is left to his own reflections 
and forebodings. He has no tutor to explain to him 
the nature of the change that has taken place since 
he stood a few hours before amid the glories of noon- 
tide ; and no experience to intimate to him that the 
surrounding darkness shall ever again give place to 
the light of day. He has never seen a sun-rising, or 
heard of one. To him the going down of the sun 
was the death of nature, and he has no hope or ground 



VARIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 



157 



of hope that he will ever rise again. All is darkness, 
sorrow and despair. 

But lo ! as he bemoans the sad phenomenon that 
has draped the world in mourning, a dim light is seen 
in the eastern sky. More and more brightly it shoots 
up from the horizon ; the gaze of the stranger is fixed ; 
his heart throbs with emotions of hope and fear ; till 
at length he beholds the hills and valleys disrobed of 
their dark vestments ; and clasps his hands in rap- 
ture as he sees an orb of fire emerge from the horizon, 
and commence its journey up the eastern sky. More- 
over, he marks how fresh and beautiful the landscape 
appears ; how fragrant the flowers ; how sweet the 
songs sent up from every grove, as if to welcome the 
coming day. 

Now here is the second lesson of his first natural 
day upon the earth — a kind of death, burial and re- 
surrection — a lesson that may quell his fears amid 
all coming changes ; that may apply to himself as well 
as to other objects; and should at least assure him 
that the disappearance of a bright object from view, 
and the reign of darkness and uncertainty, affords no 
proof or presumption, even, that the retiring object is 
lost, or will not still pursue its path of glory to un- 
numbered ages. Observation and experience have 
taught him that 

— The star that sets 
Beyond the western wave is not extinct. 
It brightens in another hemisphere, 
And gilds another evening with its rays. 

We do not affirm that Adam and Eve so interpre- 
ted these natural phenomena. Our theory is that 
they could not so understand them as " foregleams of 



158 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



immortality' ' without first having communicated to 
them the knowledge of another life. But whether 
understood or not, the phenomena remain the same ; 
and as if ordained to throw light upon the subject of 
man's descent to the tomb, warn us not to infer ex- 
tinction from retirement, obscurity and darkness ; but 
rather to look upward for the stars of immortality 
when life's sun goes down ; and to look, though the night 
of death may come, for a bright and a glorious morning. 

III. Suppose further that when man was first placed 
upon the earth the moon was at her full — a mild and 
lovely object passing nightly through the heavens. 
As the sun goes down in the west, she arises in se- 
rene majesty in the east. But the next evening she 
is later in her appearing, and when at length visible 
is sensibly diminished in her magnitude. From night 
to night she lingers more and more behind the hour 
of her first appearing, and contracts more and more 
in her magnitude till finally she is lost amid the efful- 
gence of the sun, and disappears entirely from view. 
For ought the beholder knows to the contrary she has 
gone to her fiery sepulchre, and will shine upon man 
and his abode no more forever. 

But wait a fortnight and that now dishonored, 
faded, buried celestial object will have re-asserted all 
her former splendor, and may be seen rising in the 
east, as at the first, the glorious queen of night. 
Though she seemed to be dead and lost, she emerges 
from her obscurity to shine again with undimmed ef- 
fulgence in the open void of heaven. Such are the 
lessons of the first month — a celestial orb fading and 
retiring from view, but anon restored again to its ori- 
ginal life and grandeur. 



VARIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 159 



IV. But our pupil arrived and took his place here 
amid all the sweetness and beauty of Spring. Bright 
flowers of every form and hue greeted his vision and 
filled the air with their fragrance. The forests and 
hills were clothed with their vestments of* green, and 
not an object of sorrow or decay greeted his vision 
throughout all the realm of vegetable life. And so 
far as he knows to the contrary this state of things is 
as unchangeable as the throne of the Creator. 

A few months pass and the flowers have faded ; the 
forests are stripped of their foliage ; the streams are 
bound in icy chains ; the hills and valleys are covered 
with snow ; and death reigns over the whole realm of 
nature. With no experience and no one to tell him 
that this is but a pause in life, to, be succeeded by 
new vigor and beauty, what would be the natural 
feelings of such a stranger ? How certainly would 
he mourn the loss of those days of song, and bloom, 
and brightness, now gone to return no more. He 
has never seen a spring open on the land, or heard of 
the change from winter to spring ; and is therefore 
left a prey to all the fears and forebodings with which 
the death of every leaf and flower and blade of grass 
would necessarily fill his mind and his imagination. 

But the winter rolls on — the brighter suns and 
warmer breezes of spring melt the snows from plain 
and mountain ; the buds swell and expand into foliage ; 
the tender grass shoots up from the pastures ; and 
again all nature is clad in robes of beauty, and her 
seeming death and burial give place to the most joy- 
ful life and animation. This is the lesson of a year — 
nature fading, dying, buried, and nature reviving, 
rising, restored to her wonted animation and beauty. 



160 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



V. A few weeks of observation will reveal another 
not altogether insignificant fact, viz., that in a certain 
sense life is to a large extent evolved from death 
throughout the whole realm of nature. Living animals 
are sustained in life by food, composed of dead animals 
and vegetables ; and living vegetation in turn is fed 
and nourished by decayed vegetable and animal sub- 
stances. Though death does not originate life, it 
sustains it, and life seems to spring more vigorously 
from the very triumphs of death. 

Remote as this fact may seem from the subject 
under discussion, it shows at least the intimate rela- 
tion between death and life in their lower types, and 
may therefore be cited as a natural intimation that 
the death of man here is made tributary, in the wise 
economy of the Creator, to a higher and more endur- 
ing life hereafter. 

VI. A fiery meteor is seen throwing his long train 
over half the heavens. It is in view when the stran- 
ger first looks up at the celestial concave. But in a 
short time it begins to retire from view, and at length 
entirely disappears. Man lives on, like Methuselah, 
one hundred, two hundred, four hundred years, but 
sees nothing more of the strange light in the sky. At 
length, perhaps after centuries, 

Lo ! from the dread immensity of space, 

Returning with accelerated force, 
The naming comet to the sun descends. 

Though long given up for lost, and perhaps for- 
gotten, he too stands forth again among the living, a 
bright celestial emblem of immortality. 

Such are a few of the intimations of a future state 
drawn from the structure and phenomena of the 



VARIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 161 



natural world — witnesses naturally mute to us be- 
cause we fail to understand their language, but yet 
intelligible and important when consulted in the light 
of the glorious revealed truth that the spirit of man 
never dies. Then each star that glows in the hea- 
vens when the sun sinks below the western hills ; each 
opening day when the gloom of night is past ; each 
waxing moon emerging from her obscuration ; each 
opening spring bursting every wintry chain and 
tomb, and filling all nature with beauty and fragrance ; 
each long-lost comet returning again to our heavens 
after an absence of ages ; and each material atom that 
defies annihilation — all these illustrate and corroborate 
the glorious truth that man shall live on immortal, 
despite the shadows of death, and the hiding of his 
mortal light for a time amid the dark recesses of the 
grave. We know they are but the alphabet of w T hat 
we need to know of death and the world to come ; but 
they afford instruction clear and cogent to this one 
point, that we be not deceived by appearances to re- 
gard any thing as lost or extinct that becomes robed 
in darkness, or is hidden for a time from the eyes of 
mortals. The very mechanism of nature seems to 
have been arranged so as to teach and reiterate this 
great lesson. And what pupil has she but man ? To 
whom shall the lesson apply if not to him ; and to 
what portion of his allotment on earth if not to the 
solemn period when the light of his mortal life shall 
fade, and his sun go down to rise no more on earth or 
time ? 

Let, then, each glowing star, and rising sun, and 
full-orbed moon, and opening spring, and fiery comet, 
yea every material object that God has made echo 
11 



162 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and re-echo the glorious truth, that though life's brief 
day will soon close, and the darkness of the tomb 
cover us, there is a bright and glorious day beyond 
earth's deepest shadows ; and the life we now live is 
but the vestibule of Immortality. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



168 



CHAPTER III. 

ARGUMENT DRAWN FROM THE GENERAL BELIEF OF 
MANKIND. 

The extent to which the doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul has prevailed among men, in all ages of 
the world, has generally been regarded as furnishing 
a strong presumptive proof of the truth of that 
doctrine. "When we discourse of the eternity of 
souls," says Seneca, "the general consent of all men 
either fearing or worshipping the hellish powers, is 
of very great moment." "In every thing," says 
Cicero, "the consent of all nations is to be accounted 
the law of nature, and to resist it, is to resist the 
voice of God." 

Though few Christian writers would fully endorse 
these views, especially those of the latter, the consent 
of all nations to the doctrine certainly deserves to be 
noticed among the rational evidences of a future 
state. Let us then consider the chief points in the 
argument. 

I. That the idea is almost co-extensive with the 
race of mankind, will scarcely be doubted. No 
matter what other opinions may enter into the reli- 
gion of any people, these three will be found asso- 
ciated in almost every system, viz., the existence of a 



164 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Supreme Being, the immortality of the soul, and 
future rewards and punishments. Whatever may 
have been the origin of these opinions, the fact is un- 
deniable, that upon these points all nations are in 
the main agreed. 

"That the thinking principle in man is of an im- 
mortal nature," says Dr. Dick, "was believed by the 
ancient Egyptians, the Persians, the Phenicians, the 
Scythians, the Celts, the Druids, the Assyrians — by the 
wisest and most celebrated characters among the Greeks 
and Romans, and by almost every other ancient nation 
and tribe whose records have reached our times. The 
notions, indeed, which many of them entertained of 
the scenes of futurity were very obscure and imper- 
fect, but they all embraced the idea, that death is not 
the destruction of the rational soul, but only its 
introduction to a new and unknown state of exist- 
ence." 

"The ancient Scythians believed that death was 
only a change of habitation; and the Magian sect, 
which prevailed in Babylon, Media, Assyria, and 
Persia, admitted the doctrine of eternal rewards and 
punishments." * 

II. "It is well known," says Dr. Dick, "that 
Plato, Socrates, and other Greek philosophers, held 
the doctrine of the soul's immortality." f 

In his admirable dialogue, entitled "The Phsedon," 
Plato represents Socrates, a little before his death, 
encompassed with a circle of philosophers, and dis- 

* Philosophy of a Future State, Book 1. 

f This is no doubt true in a general sense, though it must be ad- 
mitted, as elsewhere shown, that they hold this doctrine with a measure 
of doubt and uncertainty. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



165 



coursing with them on the arguments which prove the 
eternal destiny of man. " When the dead," says he, 
"are arrived at the rendezvous of departed souls, 
whither their angel conducts them, they are all 
judged. Those who have passed their lives in a 
manner neither entirely criminal, nor absolutely 
innocent, are sent into a place where they suffer pains 
proportioned to their faults, till, being purged and 
cleansed of their guilt, and afterwards restored to 
liberty, they receive the reward of the good actions 
done in the body. Those who are judged to be in- 
curable, on account of the greatness of their crimes, 
the fatal destiny that passes judgment upon them, 
hurls them into Tartarus, from whence they never 
depart. 

"Those who are found guilty of crimes, great in- 
deed, but worthy of pardon, who have committed 
violences, in the transports of rage against their 
father or mother, or have killed some one in a like 
emotion, and afterwards repented — suffer the same 
punishment with the lost, but for a time only, till, by 
prayers and supplications, they have obtained pardon 
from those they have injured. But those who have 
passed through life with peculiar sanctity of manners, 
are received on high, into a purer region, where they 
live without their bodies to all eternity, in a series 
of joys and delights which cannot be described.' ' 
III. From such considerations Socrates concludes : 
"If the soul be immortal, it requires to be culti- 
vated with attention, not only for what we call the 
time of life, but for that which is to follow, I mean 
eternity; and the least neglect in this point may be 
attended with endless consequences. If death were 



166 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the final extinction of being, the wicked would be 
great gainers by ir. by being delivered at once from 
their bodies, their souls, and their vices; but as the 
soul is immortal, it has no other means of being freed 
from its evils, nor anv safetv for it. but in becoming 
very good and verv wise: for it carries nothing with 
it. but its good or bad deeds, its virtues and vices, 
which are commonly the consequences of the educa- 
tion it has received, and the causes of eternal happi- 
ness or misery." 

The following additional extract from the same 
dialogue, is perhaps still more pertinent. 

Socrates. " Answer me; what is that which, when 
in the body makes it alive?" 

Kebes. " The soul." 

S. "Will ir always be so?" 

K. "How can it be otherwise?" 

8. "Will the soul, then, always bring life to what- 
ever it occupies?" 

K. "Certainly." 

"Is there anything contrary to life, or nothing?" 

K - There is." 

S. -What?" 

K. -Death." 

S. - Will the soul receive the contrary to what it 
introduces ?" 

K. "By no means." 

S. -But what do we call that which does not re- 
ceive death?" 
K. "Immortal." 

S. -The soul will not receive death, you say?" 
K. -Xo." 

S. "Is the soul, then, immortal?'' 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



167 



K. "It is immortal." 

&. "When, therefore, death comes upon man, what 
is mortal in him perishes, as it is seen to do; but 
what is immortal withdraws itself from death, safe and 
uncorrupted?" 

K. "This is clear. " 

S. " We may, then, be sure that, more than all 
things, 0 Kebes ! the soul is immortal and incor- 
ruptible, and that our souls will still be in existence 
in Hades." * 

" Having held such discourse with his friends, 
he kept silence for some time, and then drank off 
the whole of the poisonous draught, which had been 
put into his hand, with amazing tranquility, and an 
inexpressible serenity of aspect, as one who was 
about to exchange a short and wretched life, for a 
blessed and eternal existence." 

When Cato found it in vain to attempt to animate 
his soldiers against Caesar, he resolved to die by his 
own hand. After supping cheerfully as usual, he re- 
tired to his bed-chamber and read over this dialogue 
of Plato upon the soul's immortality two or three 
times, and then committed the crime of self-destruc- 
tion by which he has blackened his character for all 
coming time. But the reading of the dialogue under 
such circumstances shows if not a belief in, at least a 
desire to be assured of an immortal existence after 
death. 

In Cicero De Senectnte he puts the following lan- 
guage into the mouth of Cato : 

" Oh happy day when I shall quit this impure and 
corrupt multitude and join myself to that divine com- 

* Turner's Sacred History, Vol. I. p. 102. 



168 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



pany and council of souls who have quitted the earth 
before me. There I shall find not only those illustri- 
ous personages to whom I have spoken, but also my 
Cato, who I can say was one of the best men ever 
born and whom none ever excelled in virtue and piety. 
I have placed his body on this funeral pile whereon 
he ought to have laid mine. But his soul has not left 
me, and without losing sight of me he has only gone be- 
fore, into a country where he saw I should rejoin him. 
This, my lot, I seem to bear courageously ; not indeed 
that I do bear it with resignation ; but I shall com- 
fort myself with the persuasion that the interval be- 
tween his departure and mine will not be long."* 

IV. Plato tells us of an ancient law concerning men 
which was always and is still in force among the gods, 
that those who lived just and holy lives should after 
their death go into the isles of the blessed, where they 
should enjoy all manner of happiness without the 
least intermixture of misery ; but that those who 
lived here unjustly and ungodly should be sent into 
that prison of just punishment which is called Hell."f 

The apostrophe of the Roman Emperor, Adrian, 
to his soul, is also equally in point : — 

" Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing, 
Must we no longer live together ? 
And dost thou prune thy trembling wing, 

To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither ? 

" Thy pleasing vein, thy humorous folly, 
Lies all neglected, all forgot ! 
And pensive, wavering melancholy, 

Thou hop'st and fear'st thou know'st not what." 

* Dr. Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel xiii. 33. 
t Hat. Geor. p. 311. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



169 



The descriptions and allusions, contained in the 
writings of the ancient poets, are a convincing proof 
that the notion of the soul's immortality was a uni- 
versal opinion in the times in which they wrote, and 
among the nations to whom their writings were ad- 
dressed. 

Bomer, the oldest and greatest of the Greek poets, 
who lived and wrote about the time of Solomon — say 
a thousand years before Christ — embodies the doctrine 
of the soul's immortality both in the Iliad and the 
Odyssey. Indeed it is the first doctrine that arrests 
attention at the very commencement of the Iliad. 

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring, 
Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess sing ; 
That wrath which hurled to Pluto's gloomy reign 
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain ,* 
Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore, 
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore/* 

Nothing could be plainer than that this extract 
teaches the true nature of death— that it is a separa- 
tion of the soul from the body — and that the soul is 
immaterial and immortal. 

His account of the descent of Ulysses into hell, 
and his description of Minos in the shades below, dis- 
tributing justice to the dead assembled in troops 
around his tribunal, and pronouncing irrevocable judg- 
ment, which decides their everlasting fate, demonstrate 
that they entertained the belief that virtues are re- 
warded and that crimes are punished in another state 
of existence. 

" The poems of Ovid and Virgil contain a variety 
of descriptions, in which the same opinions are in- 

* Pope's translation of the Iliad, Book 1, v. 1-6, 



170 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



volved. Their notions of future punishment are set 
forth in the descriptions they give of Ixion, who was 
fastened to a wheel, and whirled about continually 
with a swift and rapid motion — of Tantalus, who for 
the loathsome banquet he made for the gods, was set 
in water up to the chin, with apples hanging to his 
very lips, yet had no power either to stoop to quench 
his raging thirst, or to reach to the other to satisfy 
his craving appetite — of the Fifty Daughters of Da- 
naus, who for the barbarous massacre of their hus- 
bands in one night, were condemned in hell to fill a 
barrel full of holes with water, which ran out as fast 
as it was filled — of Sisyphus, who, for his robberies, 
was set to roll a great stone up a steep hill, which, 
when it was just at the top, suddenly fell down again, 
and so renewed his labor — and of Tityus, who was 
adjudged to have a vulture to feed upon his liver and 
entrails, which still grew and increased as they were 
devoured." 

" Their notions of future happiness are embodied 
in the descriptions they have given of the Hesperian 
gardens, and the Elysian fields, where the souls of 
the virtuous rest secure from every danger, and enjoy 
perpetual and uninterrupted bliss." 

Pindar, the prince of lyric poets, wrote about four 
hundred years before Christ. The following transla- 
tion of his Second Ode, will illustrate the theology of 
the Greeks touching a future state, at the time it was 
written. 

TRANSLATION OF PINDAR'S SECOND ODE. 

The islands of the blest they say, 

The islands of the blest 
Are peaceful and happy by night and day 

Far away in the glorious west. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



171 



They need not the moon in that land of delight, 

They need not the pale, pale star; 
The sun he is bright by day and night, 

"Where the souls of the blessed are. 

They till not the ground, they plough not the wave, 

They labor not — never ! oh, never ! 
Not a tear do they shed, not a sigh do they heave, 

They are happy forever and ever. 

Soft is the breeze, like the evening one, 

When the sun hath gone to his rest ; 
And the sky is pure, and the clouds there are none, 

In the islands of the blest. 

The deep, clear sea, in its mazy bed, 

Doth garlands of gems unfold; 
Not a tree but it blazes with crowns for the dead, 

Even flowers of living gold.* 

Such were the views held by the ancients in regard 
to a future life, and the conscious happiness or misery 
of souls in the world to come. 

That the original idea of another life after death 
was matter of direct revelation from God, communi- 
cated to Adam and Eve, and confirmed to others after 
them, is no doubt true ; but the idea being in the 
world, however obscured or distorted in its traditional 
progress from age to age, men were enabled to reason 
upon its probable truth or otherwise, and compare the 
supposition with the facts and phenomena of the mind 
and of the natural world around them. Hence the 
general impression among the ancients that the soul 
survives the dissolution of the body. " Right rea- 
son," said Osterwald, more than a century ago, " in- 
forms us that the soul is of a substance entirely diffe- 
rent from the body, and not liable to corruption ; 

* Cambridge University Magazine. 



172 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



hence the very Heathen believe in the immortality of 
the soul."* 

VI. And as the nations of antiquity recognized the 
doctrine of a future state of existence, so there is 
scarcely a nation or tribe of mankind, presently ex- 
isting, however barbarous and untutored, in which the 
same opinion does not prevail. 

" The natives of the Society Isles believe that after 
death there is not only a state of conscious existence, 
but degrees of eminence and felicity, according as 
men have been more or less pleasing to the Eatova, 
or Deity, while upon earth." 

" The chiefs of the Friendly Islands believe in the 
immortality of their souls, which at death, they say, is 
immediately conveyed in a fast-sailing canoe, to a 
distant country called Doobludha, which they describe 
as resembling the Mahometan paradise, — that those 
who are conveyed thither are no more subject to death, 
but feast on all the favourite productions of their 
native soil, with which this blissful abode is plenti- 
fully furnished." 

" The New Zealanders believe, that the third day 
after the interment of a man, the heart separates 
itself from the corpse, and that this separation is an- 
nounced by a general breeze of wind, which gives 
warning of its approach, by an inferior divinity that 
hovers over the grave, and who carries it to the clouds. 
They believe that the soul of the man whose flesh is 
devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual fire, 
while the soul of the man whose body has been res- 

* John Frederick Osterwald was a celebrated divine of Switzerland, 
who died in 1741. See Compendium of Christian Theology, translated 
from the Latin by Rev. John McMains, 1788. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS 



173 



cued from those that killed him, and the souls of all 
who die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of 
the gods." 

" The inhabitants of the Pelew Islands, according 
to the account of Captain Wilson, although they have 
few religious rites and ceremonies, believe in one 
Supreme Being, and in a future state of rewards and 
punishments." 

" In the religion of the Kalmuc Tartars, the doc- 
trine of a future state holds a conspicuous place. 
They believe that hell is situated in the middle region, 
between heaven and earth, and their devils are repre- 
sented with all sorts of frightful forms of a black and 
hideous aspect, with the heads of goats, lions, and 
unicorns. Their holy Lamas, who have obtained a 
victory over all their passions, are supposed to pass 
immediately into heaven, where they enjoy perfect 
rest, and exercise in divine service." 

i; The Samoiedians of northern Tartary believe, that 
there is one Supreme Being, that he is our all-merci- 
ful and common Parent, and that he will reward with 
a happy state hereafter, those who live virtuously in 
this world." 

" The Birmans believe in the transmigration of 
souls, after which they maintain, that the radically 
bad will be sentenced to lasting punishment, while the 
good will enjoy eternal happiness on a mountain 
called Meru." 

M The various tribes which inhabit the continent of 
Africa, in so far as we are acquainted with their 
religious opinions, appear to recognize the doctrine 
of a future state. * * * The inhabitants of the inte- 
rior, according to the account of Mr. Park, believe in 



174 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



one Supreme Ruler, and expect hereafter to enter 
into a state of misery or felicity. The Gallas of 
Abyssinia, though they reject the doctrine of future 
punishment, admit the reality of a future state. The 
Mandingoes, the JalofFs, the Feloops, the Foulahs, 
the Moors, and all other tribes who have embraced 
the Mahometan faith, recognize the doctrine of the 
immortality of the soul, and of future rewards in a 
celestial paradise." 

" The natives of Dahomey entertain the same belief ; 
and hence,. it is a common practice with the sovereign 
of that country, to send an account to his forefathers 
of any remarkable event, by delivering a message to 
whoever may happen to be near him at the time, and 
then ordering his head to be chopped off immediately, 
that he may serve as a courier, to convey intelligence 
to the world of spirits. "* 

" The Persians are said to leave one part of their 
graves open, from a belief that the dead will be re- 
animated, and visited by angels, who will appoint 
them to their appropriate abode in a future state. 
From a similar belief, thousands of Hindoo widows 
annually sacrifice themselves on the funeral piles of 
their deceased husbands, in the hope of enjoying with 
them the felicities of eternal life."f 

" The Japanese believe that the souls of men and 
beasts are alike immortal ; that a just distribution of 
rewards and punishments takes place after death; 
that there are different degrees of happiness as well 

* M'Leod's Voyage to Africa, 1820, p. 64. 

j- This was no doubt true in 1827, when Dr. Dick wrote, but the 
suttee has since been abolished over all that country. But this in no 
wise affects the argument. 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS 



175 



as of punishment, and that the souls of the wicked 
transmigrate, after death, into the bodies of animals, 
and at last, in case of amendment, are translated 
back again into the human form."* 

" From a conviction of the reality of a future 
world, the Wahabbe Arabs regard it as impious to 
mourn for the dead, who, they say, are enjoying 
felicity with Mahomet in paradise ; and the Javanese 
make several feasts, on the decease of their friends 
and relations, to commemorate their entrance into a 
world of bliss." 

" The ancient Scandinavians taught that the brave 
were to revel forever in the halls of Valhalla, and 
drink mead offered them by maidens, from the skulls 
of their enemies. Some of the Pagan Arabs said, 
that of the blood near the brain a bird was formed, 
which once in a century visited the sepulchre ; and 
others believed in a resurrection. 

" The Patagonians in mentioning the dead, call 
them those who are with God, and out of the world. 
The Tongo people suppose the souls of their dead 
chiefs to be in a delightful island of shadows. The 
Tucatanese represent the abode of the good as a plea- 
sant land of plenty, under the shade of a mighty 
tree. 

The first natives of this continent seen by the 
Spaniards, taught that the souls of good men went to 
a pleasant valley, where all kinds of fruit were abun- 
dant ; and that the dead walked abroad in the night, 
and feasted with the living. Charlevoix says, that 
the Indians paid a great regard to dreams, as em- 
bracing an intercourse with spirits. They imagined 

* ThunVierg's Travels. 



176 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



a paradise in the West, a land where nature glowed 
with an eternal sunset. 

"The ancient Mexicans supposed three places for 
the departed : the house of sun, for such as fell in 
battle, or died captives, and women who perished in 
childhood ; the place of the god of water for the 
drowned, for children, and for those who died of 
dropsy, tumors, and similar diseases, or of accidental 
wounds ; and the place of darkness, in the centre of 
the earth." 

To these very ample testimonies we may add that 
of our own native Indians, who uniformly believe in 
an immortal existence after death, in the celestial 
hunting grounds — the beautiful islands — where deer, 
and buffalo without number graze on the hills and 
through the valleys — where the good are always suc- 
cessful in the chase, and the wicked ever pursue in 
vain. To this " better country" they believe the 
Great Spirit will conduct them at the close of life. 
Hence their bow and arrows are often deposited with 
their bodies, that thev may have them to use in the 
spirit world. 

" The Chickasaivs believed that the souls of red 
men walked up and down near the place where they 
died, or were laid ; and said that they had often heard 
cries and noises where prisoners had been burned. 
The Indians of Cumana supposed echo to be the 
voice of the departed. 

Lo the poor Indian whose untutored mind. 
Sees G-od in clouds, or hears him in the wind, 
Whose soul proud science never taught to stray, 
Beyond the solar walk or milky way — 
Yet simple nature to his hope has given., 
Beyond the cloud-topped hill, an humble heaven; 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



177 



Some safer world in depth of woods embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery waste, 
Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold, — 
And thinks, admitted to yon equal sky, 
His faithful dog shall bear him company. 

"Thus it appears, that not only the philosophers 
of antiquity, and the most civilized nations presently 
existing on the globe, have recognized the doctrine 
of the immortality of man, but that even the most 
savage and untutored tribes fortify their minds in the 
prospect of death, with the hope of a happiness com- 
mensurate with their desires, in the regions beyond 
the grave. Among the numerous and diversified 
tribes that are scattered over the different regions 
of the earth, that agree in scarcely any other senti- 
ment or article of religious belief, we here find the 
most perfect harmony in their recognition of a 
Supreme Intelligence, and in their belief that the 
soul survives the dissolution of its mortal frame. 
And, as Cicero long since observed, ' In everything 
the consent of all nations is to be accounted the law 
of nature, and to resist it, is to resist the voice of 
God/ For we can scarcely suppose, in consistency 
with the divine perfections, that an error, on a 
subject of so vast importance to mankind, should 
obtain the universal belief of all nations and ages, 
and that God himself would suffer a world of rational 
beings, throughout every generation, to be carried 
away by a delusion, and to be tantalized by a hope 
which has no foundation in nature, and which is con- 
trary to the plan of his moral government. " 

VII. "To whatever cause this universal belief of a 
future existence is to be traced — whether to a uni- 
12 



178 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



versal tradition derived from the first parents of the 
human race; to an innate sentiment originally im- 
pressed on the soul of man ; to a Divine revelation 
disseminated and handed down from one generation 
to another, or to the deductions of human reason — it 
forms a strong presumption, and a powerful argu- 
ment, in favor of the position we are now endeavor- 
ing to support. If it is to be traced back to the 
original progenitors of mankind, it must be regarded 
as one of those truths which were recognized by man 
in a state of innocence, when his affections were pure, 
and his understanding fortified against delusion and 
error. If it be a sentiment which was originally im- 
pressed on the human soul by the hand of its Creator, 
we do violence to the law of our nature, when we 
disregard its intimations, or attempt to resist the force 
of its evidence. If it ought to be considered as 
originally derived from Revelation, then it is corrobo- 
rative of the truth of the Sacred Records, in which 
4 life and immortality' are clearly exhibited. And, 
if it be regarded as likewise one of the deductions 
of natural reason, we are left without excuse, if we 
attempt to obscure its evidence, or to overlook the 
important consequences which it involves. 

"As the consent of all nations has been generally 
considered as a powerful argument for the existence 
of a Deity, so the universal belief of mankind in the 
doctrine of a future state ought to be viewed as a 
strong presumption, that it is founded upon truth. 
The human mind is so constituted, that when left to 
its native unbiassed energies, it necessarily infers the 
existence of a Supreme Intelligence, from the exist- 
ence of matter, and the economy of the material 



BELIEF OF ALL NATIONS. 



179 



world; and, from the nature of the human faculties, 
and the moral attributes of God, it is almost as in- 
fallibly led to conclude, that a future existence is 
necessary, in order to gratify the boundless desires 
of the human soul, and to indicate the wisdom and 
rectitude of the moral Governor of the world. 

"These two grand truths, which constitute the 
foundation of all religion, and of everything that is 
interesting to man as an intelligent agent, are inter- 
woven with the theological creed of all nations ; and 
in almost every instance, where the one is called in 
question, the other is undermined or denied : so 
that the doctrine of the immortality of man may 
be considered as resting on the same foundation as 
the existence of a Supreme Intelligence."* 

We have quoted thus largely from Dr. Dick in the 
present chapter, not that the argument is original 
with him, or because the main statement with which 
this chapter commences, needed to be thus fortified in 
order to be credited by the well-informed and candid 
reader; but rather because of the amount of testi- 
mony condensed into a small compass, and as a 
tribute to the memory of one who while on earth 
treated with a master's hand the glorious theme of 
immortal existence after death. 

* Philosophy of a Future State, Part I. Chap. I. 



180 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE RELATION OF MAN TO THE LOWER ANIMALS. 

Stupendous link in Nature's endless chain 
Midway from nothing to the Deity. 

The relation of the different species of animals to 
each other, and of man to the whole, affords a strong 
presumption that though allied to them by his animal 
nature, he has also a higher and spiritual nature, by 
which he is also allied to superior beings in the great 
chain of intellectual existence. 

I. If we look abroad over the vast field of animal 
creation, we shall find that no species stands alone, 
or isolated from its fellows of other species ; but that 
all are related by resemblances more or less striking, 
and linked together in one grand chain, from the 
lowest forms of unorganized matter, up to the most 
perfect of all organization, the human body. 

The oyster^ with only the senses of taste and feel- 
ing at most, seems to link the animal world to the 
mineral. The polypi — half vegetable and half animal 
— link together these two kingdoms. The bat unites 
the birds and the quadrupeds ; and the flying-fish the 
birds and the fish. 

"The bat, the flying-squirrel, the flying-opossum, 
are instances of animals of the class mammalia, ap- 



man's relation to the lower animals. 181 



proximating to that of birds in the possession of 
wings, or organs resembling them, whilst the orni- 
thorhynchus resembles them in the structure of its 
mouth, and its mode of producing its young by 
eggs. 

On the other hand, the ostrich, the cassowary, and 
the dodo, which have wings so short as to be incapa- 
ble of flying, and therefore always run or walk, are 
instances of birds approaching, in some degree, to 
the character of quadrupeds. So, too, the cetaceous 
tribe affords an example of the transition from 
mammalia to fishes ; the flying-fish, of the transition 
from birds to fishes ; the dragons of that from birds 
to reptiles." * 

Thus through all the realm of nature, each inferior 
tribe is linked to the next above ; and the link by 
which they are united shares the natures of both the 
superior and the inferior races. Indeed, nature is 
one grand chain, from the crudest forms of unorgan- 
ized matter, through the whole vegetable and animal 
kingdoms, up to man at the head of all. 

" Of systems possible, if it's confessed 
That wisdom infinite must form the best, 
Where all must fall or not coherent be, 
And all that rises, rise in due degree ; 
Then, in the scale of reasoning life, 'tis plain, 
There must be somewhere such a rank as man ; 
And all the questions (wrangle e'er so long) 
Is only this, if God has placed him wrong." 

"In the chain of animals," says Smellie, "man is 
unquestionably the chief or capital link. As a highly 
rational animal, improved with science and arts, he 

* Smellier Philosophy of Natural History, Boston Ed. p. 309. 



182 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



is, in some measure, related to beings of superior 
order, wherever they exist. "* 

"Man," says President Hopkins, "has been called 
the microcosm, or little world, because, while he has 
a distinctive nature of his own, he is a partaker and 
representative of every thing in the inferior creation. 
In him are united the material and the spiritual, the 
animal and the rational. He has instincts, propensi- 
ties, desires, passions, by which he is allied to the 
animals ; he has also reason, conscience, free-will, by 
which he is allied to higher intelligences and to 
God."f 

II. Now the manner in which the various kingdoms 
of nature — the animal, vegetable, and mineral — and 
also the different species in each kingdom are linked 
together requires, if the analogy is to hold good 
throughout creation, that man, who stands at the 
head of this lower world, should connect with the next 
link above in the chain of being which would require a 
nature distinctly spiritual, and quite above that of the 
beast that perishes. 

Look nature through, 'tis neat gradation all, 

By what minute degrees her scale ascends ! 

Each middle nature joined at each extreme; 

To that above it joined,, to that beneath, 

Parts into parte reciprocally shot, 

Abhor divorce. What love of union reigns ! 

Here dormant matter waits a call to life ; 

Half-life, half-death, join there : here life and sense, 

There sense from reason steals a glimmering ray; 

Reason shines out in man. But how preserved 

The chain unbroken upward to the realms 

Of incorporeal life ? These realms of bliss, 



*Smellie's Philosophy of Natural History, p. 307. 
f Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, p. 167. 



man's relation to the lower animals. 183 



Where death hath no dominion ? Grant a make 
Half-mortal, half-immortal ; earthly part 
And part ethereal: grant the soul of man 
Eternal, or in man the series ends. 
Wide yawns the gap: connection is no more: 
Checked reason halts : her next step wants support; 
Striving to climb, she tumbles from her scheme, 
A scheme analogy pronounced so true ; 
Analogy ! man's surest guide below. 

The relation of man to this lower world is not only 
precisely that assigned him in the Scriptures, but 
just the relation to suggest his connection with supe- 
rior beings, and a more exalted state of existence. 
"Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, 
and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou 
madest him to have dominion over the works of thy 
hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all 
sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and 
whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Ps. 
viii. 5-8. 

Standing, there, where the Scriptures place him, 
at the head of all that lives and moves, on the land 
or in the air and sea, and tracing the wonderful 
gradating from the crudest form of animal life, up- 
ward to himself, man may truthfully exclaim, 

" The chain of being is complete in me, 
In me is matter's last gradation lost, 
And the next step is spirit — Deity ! 
I can command the lightning, and am dust ! 
A monarch and a slave ! a worm, a god \" 

And being thus at the head of this lower world, 
and only "a little lower than the angels," he occu- 
pies the place, to say the least, of the connecting 
link between the terrestrial and the celestial. And 



184 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



when to this fact we add the obvious fact of his supe- 
rior intellectuality, the conviction is strengthened that 
in his higher nature he is a spirit, and thus allied to 
those invisible beings called angels, who throng the 
shores of immortality. 



PERFECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



185 



CHAPTER V, 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL INFERRED FROM THE 
STRUCTURE OF THE BODY IN WHICH IT DWELLS. 

I. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," said 
the Psalmist three thousand years ago; and modern 
physiology fully justifies the exclamation. Of all 
living organisms the human body is the most perfect. 
Taken as a whole it is the grand climax of all animal 
existence, the embodiment of the grand ideal of 
organic perfection, toward which all other animals, 
tribe by tribe, seem to have been advanced by the 
Creator by regular and successive approaches. As it 
was the last created, so it was superior to all others, 
and worthy to be the palace of that celestial nature, 
who, under Grod, should rule this lower world. 

"It is a wonderful fact developed by geology, com- 
bined with comparative anatomy, that all the forms 
of animal existence find the perfected completion of 
their type in man. Their whole system through ages, 
converges individually and collectively, like a vast 
pyramid in him, as its apex. Termination in man is 
the tendency in which they all advance. Hence man 
is the being of which all the past animal system was 
a prophecy."* 

* Methodist Quarterly Review for April 1859. 



186 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



"The recognition of an ideal exemplar for the 
vertebrated animals," says Professor Owen: "proves, 
that the knowledge of such a being as man, must 
have existed before man appeared. * * * * The 
archetypal idea was manifested in the flesh under 
divers modifications upon this planet long prior to the 
existence of those animal specie that actually exem- 
plify it." 

"It is evident," says Professor Agassiz: "that 
there is a manifest progress in the succession of 
being on the surface of the earth * * especially in 
their increasing resemblance to man. 

Hugh Miller tells us in his " Testimony of the 
Rocks " that "man is pre-eminently what a theologian 
would term the antetypal existence — the being in 
whom the types meet and are fulfilled," — and Oken 
calls him "the sum of all the animals." 

Such is the testimony of these students of physical 
nature given entirely out of view of its bearing upon 
the question of the immortality of the soul. The fact, 
therefore, upon which we insist, namely, that the hu- 
man body is the most perfect of all animal organiza- 
tions, will scarcely be disputed. For beauty of figure, 
grace of motion, utility, strength and convenience all 
combined it has no equal in all the realm of animal 
life. The human hand alone with its bones and joints 
and muscles and tendons and nerves and arteries and 
veins — its exquisite form and adaptation to the wants 
of man — has been the wonder and admiration of the 
anatomist in every age. And so of other portions 
of the human organism. 

"We cannot, with propriety, say that one com- 
plete animal is nobler than another, because of any 



PERFECTIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY. 187 



prominence of particular organs as compared with its 
whole body ; nor is one creature to be called monstrous 
or ugly, in comparison with another, for each is ex- 
actly fitted to its place in the grand scale of exist- 
ence, and therefore, all are alike beautiful, as exhibi- 
ting the wonderful wisdom and beneficence of God. 
But creation is graduated, and every creature has its 
proper place. The totality of an animal's framework, 
its position on the scale of being. If we measure 
man according to this standard his superiority is at 
once evident."* 

II. " The organization of man," says Lavater, 
" peculiarly distinguishes him from all other earthly 
beings ; and his physiognomy, that is to say, the su- 
perfices and outlines of his organization, show him to 
be infinitely superior to all those visible beings by 
which he is surrounded, "f 

Of all the numberless animal organisms with which 
the beneficent Creator has peopled the globe, and with 
all their wonderful variety and beauty and exquisite 
workmanship, and adaptation to their various abodes 
and habits of life, the body of man alone is adapted 
to the occupancy and demands of an intelligent spirit, 

" As the habits of certain animals have been cor- 
rectly inferred from the examination of detached por- 
tions of their structure, so from almost any part of 
man's body we may at once discover that it was con- 
structed for the accommodation and delight of an in- 
tellectual being. In fact, the excellency of man (as 
an animal) consists in the delicate adaptation of his 
structure, for without this the reasoning principle would 

* Power of the Soul over the Body by George Moore, M. D. p. 18. 
f Essay on Physiology. 



188 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



be out of place. He is the most delicate creature 
on the earth."* 

Nor is this all. He is not only the most delicate 
creature on the earth in his physical organization, but, 
as already stated, the human body is the only animal 
organization in existence, through which the soul of 
man could exercise all its functions, and fully mani- 
fest and develope all its capabilities. 

Suppose, for illustration, the soul of some tailor or 
watch-maker should be transferred from the body in 
which it dwells to that of a dog or swan ; what could 
he do in such a body ? Could he handle a needle or 
use a forcep in either of those bodies ? The horse is 
among the most beautiful and noble of animals. Look 
at him as described by Job : " Hast thou given the 
horse strength ? hast thou clothed his neck with thun- 
der ? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper ? 
the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in 
the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he goeth on 
to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is 
not affrighted ; neither turneth he back from the 
sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glitter- 
ing spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground 
with fierceness and rage : neither believeth he that it 
is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the 
trumpets, Ha, ha ! and he smelleth the battle afar off, 
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." 

But suppose the spirit of Milton had been lodged 
in such a physical organization, perfect as it seems to 
be, could he ever have produced Paradise Lost ? 
Could he have held a pen with his uncloven hoof, or 
dictated his poem to an amanuensis through the throat 

* Moore on the Soul and Eodv. p. 21. 



PERFECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY. 189 

of such an animal ? Most certainly not. And the 
same would be true of every quadruped, and bird and 
fish throughout nature. And why ? Simply because 
there is not another animal body on earth adapted to 
become the abode of a rational spirit. The bodies of 
the lower animals are all adapted to their uses — to 
cleave the air or shoot through the waters, and seize 
their prey, or otherwise supply their physical wants ; 
but not a body among them all is adapted to the de- 
mands of an intellectual life. What animal but man 
could play a flute, or a piano, even if endowed with 
the musical talent of a Mozart ? 

" How nice a structure must be called into play 
when a skillful pianist, by the aid of an additional 
instrument fitted to his convenience, executes an in- 
tricate piece of music, not only in a wonderfully ra- 
pid succession of mechanical movements, but also in 
a manner fully to express the very feelings of the 
soul ? 

" But how much more forcibly is the same power 
manifested in the human voice ! By it the spirit 
speaks, not only in infinite variety of articulated 
sounds, but more marvellously still by the modulated 
language of tones, so as to excite into ecstacy or ago- 
ny every sympathy within us." 

But we must not forget that as the soul requires a 
peculiar body through which to manifest its wondrous 
powers, so the exquisitely wrought body of man, 
would be utterly useless to a less intelligent spiritual 
being than the soul which occupies it. Like the lamp 
in the distant light-house, it is the spirit in man after 
all that illuminates the body, and gives to it its chief 
importance and utility. Without it there would be 



190 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



no music or poetry or sculpture or painting or scien- 
tific or mechanical creations, however capable the 
body might be of doing its part towards their produc- 
tion. 

" What is it that so skillfully touches the musical 
instrument ? What is it that enjoys as well as actu- 
ates, receives as well as communicates, through this 
inscrutable organization ? It is, as we have said, the 
soul or spirit, without which this body were more un- 
meaning than a statue, and only fit, as it would tend, 
to decay. It is the soul which animates the features 
and causes them to present a living picture of each 
passion, so that the inmost agitations of the heart be- 
come visible in a moment, and the wish that would 
seek concealment betrays its presence and its power, 
in the vivid eye, while the blood kindles into crimson 
with a thought that burns along the brow. It is this 
which diffuses a sweet serenity and rest upon the vis- 
age, when our feelings are tranquilized, and our 
thoughts abide with heaven, like the ocean in a calm, 
reflecting the peaceful glories of the cloudless skies. 
This indwelling spirit of power blends our features 
into unison and harmony, and awakes "the music 
breathing from the face," when in association with 
those we love, and heart answering to heart, we live 
in sympathy, while memory and hope repose alike in 
smiles upon the bosom of enjoyment. It is a flame 
from heaven purer than Promethean fire, that vivifies 
and energizes the breathing form. It is an immate- 
rial essence, a being, that quickens matter and imparts 
life, sensation, motion, to the intricate framework of 
our bodies ; which wills when we act, attends when 
we perceive, looks into the past when we reflect, and 



PERFECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY. 191 



not content with the present, shoots with all its aims 
and all its hopes into the futurity that is forever 
dawning upon it." 

So pertinent to the general subject is this extract, 
that we could not well withhold it from the reader, 
even though a portion of it has but a slight bearing 
upon the particular point to which this chapter is de- 
voted. To return, then, to the topic in hand : 

" If the body of man had been constituted on any 
inferior model, art and science could have had no out- 
ward existence, and reason must have been imprisoned 
in brute form. Supposing human knowledge then 
possible, man could only have been manifest as a sub- 
tle beast. 6 It is mind that makes the body rich/ 
but the soul needs a corresponding body, and God has 
wedded them together, in perfect suitability to their 
present business and abode." 

The body of man alone is adapted to the demands 
of an occupant possessed of intelligence, genius, sci- 
ence, art, and skill; and may therefore be regarded 
as indicating in itself the exalted nature of the soul 
of which it is the dwelling-place. We lack the speed 
of the antelope, the strength of the bison, the hearing 
of the elk, the sight of the panther, and the keen 
scent of the fox-hound, but all these qualities together, 
and every other in which the bodies of the lower animal 
excel that of man, are more than compensated for by 
the single apparatus by which these lines are written 
— the human hand. God made the human body to 
be the abode of an angelic nature. As it lay there 
fresh from the all-forming hand, before he breathed 
into it the immortal spirit, it was the fit abode for a 
seraphic nature, such as God placed within it. 



192 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Now as we may logically infer the character of the 
occupant of the house, from the character and appear- 
ance of the house itself, so we may logically infer the 
character, dignity and destiny of the soul of man, 
from the character of the earthly house in which the 
Creator has assigned it its present, and we may add, 
its everlasting abode. For we may not only contem- 
plate the body as it now is, but also as it shall be be- 
yond the resurrection, and when mortality is swal- 
lowed up of life. 

The perfection of the human body, therefore, as 
compared with other animal bodies, betokens the ex- 
alted character of its occupant, and suggests for the 
soul of man a destiny unlike that of the beast that 
perishes. 

Look on that glorious face ! 
There the ^uick play of varied passions see ! 
Look on that brow of thought ! must it not be 

A spirit's dwelling-place? 

Would God a palace rear 
For a frail being of no nobler life, 
Than that which closes with the dying strife, 

A life that endeth here ? 

Ah, no ! the tenant must, 
More glorious than its glorious mansion be; 
Whose dome and column soon alas ! we see 

All crumbling back to dust. 



DOMINION OVER THE BODY. 



193 



CHAPTER VI. 

DOMINION OF THE SOUL OVER THE BODY. 

The dominion of mind over matter in general, and 
especially of the soul over the body, proves the latter 
to be a mere instrument of the soul, and not the soul 
itself. 

I. The general supremacy of mind over matter will 
scarcely be questioned. It is shown in all the 
mechanical arts, in sculpture and painting, and in all 
the improvements effected in the animal and vegetable 
kingdom. The original wild rose, from which man, 
"working together with Grod," has developed a score 
of exquisite varieties, was originally a simple four 
leaved flower, neither beautiful nor fragrant. And 
the same may be said in general of scores of our 
floral beauties and favorites — they are to a great ex- 
tent human productions. Our fruits, whether berries 
or peaches, pears or apples, have become what they 
are by cultivation, from very unpromising beginnings. 
So of our grains and garden vegetables. 

And is not the same true of our domestic animals 
— horses, oxen, sheep, swine, and fowls of all kinds? 
Were not their ancestors in their wild state feeble 
and worthless pigmies, compared with their domesti- 
13 



194 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE ^OUL. 



cated posterity? By careful observation upon cause 
and effect, and the use of such means as were adapted 
to produce the desired end, these different animals 
have been improved to double the size and value of 
their progenitors, while in a wild state. 

And what is all this but the triumph of spirit over 
matter ? — of the soul of man, over the obstacles in the 
way of the complete development of portions of the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms ? Indeed, it is more 
than this; it is carrying out a general plan, by 
laws established by the Deity, and with his con- 
tinued co-operation, to an extent that seems scarcely 
to have been contemplated in the original crea- 
tion. 

II. The almost complete subserviency of material 
creation, in one form or another, to the wants and 
happiness of man, sefems to justify the conclusion 
that the material universe was created after all the 
angelic hosts, and, in some way to minister to the 
development and happiness of intellectual life. The 
heavens declare the glory of God, not only to men 
but to angels. And who that believes in those bright 
celestial spirits can doubt the complete subjection of 
all material things to their convenience and happi- 
ness? If men in the body can do what we see done, 
in the creation of unnumbered forms of beauty and 
utility from the various elements of nature, what 
must be the power of an angel over material things ? 

Were the globe a solid mass of crystal, the beams 
of the sun would pass through it as swiftly as through 
vacant space. And could not a celestial do as much? 
If Gabriel were to meet a vast planet in his ethereal 
flights, would he be obliged to turn aside and go 



DOMINION OVER THE BODY. 



195 



around it, as a ship at sea would sail around an 
island? Such is the superiority of spirit over mat- 
ter, that angels and disembodied human souls can 
doubtless fly through solid marble and granite as 
easily and as swiftly as in the open void of heaven! 

IIL It is believed by many to be a matter of con- 
sciousness that they dwell in a body, from which they 
are as distinct as light is from the crystal through 
which it passes. We k 'feel" that we (the thinking 
power) are not the body, and the body is not our- 
selves. Nor is it a valid objection to this view to 
affirm that if it were a matter of consciousness, all 
men would arrive at the same conclusion, and there 
would be no dispute upon the subject. A metaphysi- 
cian may be conscious of certain mental phenomena, 
of which others may have no knowledge, for the 
simple reason, that he has made the subject a study, 
and is accustomed to noting with care and accuracy 
his mental states and processes. So in regard to the 
occupancy of the body — the vast majority of mankind 
never think of the subject, and have therefore no dis- 
tinct consciousness in regard to it. But let a person 
sit down and, turning his thoughts within, calmly 
contemplate the relation of that which thinks, and 
reasons, and remembers within him, to the physical 
frame with which it is connected; and if he does not 
realize a consciousness that he is not the body, but 
merely its occupant, we believe it will be either be- 
cause such consciousness is at war with his creed, or 
because he is unaccustomed to distinguishing between 
his consciousness and his sensations. Who that re- 
flects ever confounds the thinking principle within 
him, with his feet or hips, or arms, or even with the 



196 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



brain?* Are we not conscious that these are but in- 
struments through which we communicate with the 
external world? 

IV. But whatever may be thought of our conscious- 
ness of the occupancy of the body, as a distinct ques- 
tion, there is another point, equally pertinent to our 
argument, as we conceive, and, upon which there can 
be no dispute. 

Every person is conscious of the control he exer- 
cises over his own body, as over a machine to be 
operated by him at will. At his bidding the hand 
rises or falls, or moves horizontally ; or the feet con- 
vey the body to a different locality. With the ex- 
ception of a few involuntary motions, like that of the 
heart, or of the lungs during sleep, the whole machine 
is obedient to the will. The mind sits enthroned 
like a mariner at the helm, or an engineer at his post, 
and the body obeys all its mandates. 

And even when through fracture, or dislocation, or 
paralysis, an arm or a leg becomes immovable, how 
distinct the consciousness that the difficulty is in the 
machine which is out of order, and not in the opera- 
tor, who retains all his powers and capabilities unim- 
paired. We are distinctly conscious that the mind 
controls the body, and not the body the mind. 
The material is consciously subject to the spiritual. 

V. All these facts point unmistakably to the con- 
clusion that the body is not the soul, or any part of 
it, but the mere instrument through which the mind 

* We are conscious of an effort in connection with the brain, in think- 
ing and hard study : but it is equally true that "the mind is sensibly 
in every limb, and acts wherever it pleases to act, provided the 
mechanism be fit for use." Moore's Power of the Soul over the Body, 
p. 70. 



DOMINION OVER THE BODY. 



197 



holds intercourse with the material world. No part 
of the body indicates that it is, in itself, the moving 
power. On the contrary the relation of some of the 
organs, at least, to artificial aids to sensation, show 
conclusively that like them they are mere instruments 
of a higher power, which uses them. Take for illus- 
tration the human eye and ear. 

"We are accustomed to say the eye sees, the ear 
hears, the finger feels, and so forth; but such lan- 
guage is incorrect, and only admissible because we 
are accustomed to the error, and our expressions are 
necessarily accommodated to ignorance, or are not 
equal to our knowledge. The eye itself no more sees 
than the telescope which we hold before it to assist 
our vision. The ear hears not any more than the 
trumpet of tin, which the deaf man directs towards 
the speaker to convey the sound of his voice, and so 
with regard to all the organs of sense. They are but 
instruments which become the media of intelligence 
to the absolute mind, which uses them, whenever that 
mind is inclined or obliged to employ them. Or, 
perhaps, they might be more correctly represented as 
the seats or proper places of impressions, because of 
their exact adaptation to external influences." 

"The slightest examination of the organs of sense 
will convince an observer that they are constructed 
merely as instruments. What is the eye but a most 
perfect optical contrivance? * * No mechanism in- 
vented by man was ever so well contrived or so w^ell 
placed, or could move so precisely as required under 
the action of its pullies. No servant was ever so 
obedient ; for without a conscious effort of the will, 
without a command, and as if instinct with the mind 



198 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



that employs it. this exquisite aparatus. which is 
both a camera obscura and a telescope, instanta- 
neously takes the direction of a desire, and accommo- 
dates itself to the range of distance and the degree 
of light," 

" And so of the ear : it is a complete acoustic in- 
strument, with its exterior trumpet to collect sounds, 
and its vibrating tympanum, and its chamber and 
winding passages, and its dense fluids, so well calcu- 
lated to propagate and modify vibrations, and its mi- 
nute and sensitive muscles, to act as cords to brace 
the drum, just as required, and to move the jointed 
piston, which regulates the water in its channels, ac- 
cording to circumstances, and the whole built up with- 
in a stone-like structure, which prevents the sound 
from being wasted.' 5 * 

And so of the organs of speech and song and that 
most wonderful of all contrivances, the human hand. 
They are all adapted to perform the will of an in- 
dwelling and controlling rational spirit — such duties 
as no other original organism is ever called upon or 
is competent to perform. 

V. The same general idea is thus forcibly elabora- 
ted by Bishop Butler : 

"If we consider our bodies somewhat more dis- 
tinctly, as made up of organs and instruments of per- 
ception and of motion, it will bring us to the same 
conclusion. Thus, the common optical experiments 
show, and even the observation how sight is assisted 
by glasses, shows, that we see with our eyes, in the 
same sense as we see with glasses. Nor is there any 



* Dr. Moore on the Power of the Soul over the Body, American Ed. 
pp. 25-27. 



DOMINION OVER THE BODY. 



199 



reason to believe, that we see with them in any other 
sense ; any other, I mean, which would lead us to 
think the eye itself a percipient. The like is to be 
said of hearing : and our feeling distant solid matter 
by means of somewhat in our hand, seems an instance 
of the like kind, as to the subject we are considering. 
All these are instances of foreign matter, or such as 
is no part of our body, being instrumental in prepa- 
ring objects for, and conveying them to the perceiv- 
ing power, in a manner similar, or like to the manner 
in which our organs of sense prepare and convey them. 
Both are. in a like way. instruments of our receiving 
such ideas from external objects, as the Author of 
nature appointed those external objects to be the oc- 
casions of exciting in us. However, glasses are evi- 
dently instances of this ; namely, of matter, which 
is no part of our body, preparing objects for, and con- 
veying them towards the perceiving power, in like 
manner as our bodily organs do. And if we see with 
our eyes only in the same manner as we do with 
glasses, the like may justly be concluded from analogy, 
of all our other senses. It is not intended, by any- 
thing here said, to affirm, that the whole apparatus 
of vision, or of perception by any other of our senses, 
can be traced, through all its steps, quite up to the 
living power of seeing, or perceiving ; but that, so 
far as it can be traced by experimental observations, 
so far it appears, that our organs of sense prepare 
and convey on objects, in order to their being per- 
ceived, in like manner as foreign matter does, without 
affording any shadow of appearance, that they them- 
selves perceive, xlnd that we have no reason to 
think our organs of sense percipients, is confirmed by 



200 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



instances of persons losing some of them, the living 
beings themselves, their former occupiers, remaining 
unimpaired. It is confirmed also by the experience 
of dreams ; by which we find we are at present pos- 
sessed of a latent, and what would otherwise be an 
unimagined unknown power of perceiving sensible ob- 
jects, in as strong and lively a manner without our 
external organs of sense, as with them."* 

VI. It is no sufficient reply to the above view to 
allege that the control of which we speak is simply 
the dominion of the brain over the muscles and bones, 
through the medium of the nervous system. For if 
we attribute this conscious supremacy and control to 
the brain alone, as a purely material substance, then 
we must attribute to it all the other functions and 
powers of the human soul, or rather declare the brain 
to be the soul itself, and not the mere instrument 
through which the mind operates upon other portions 
of the body. This brings us squarely on to the plat- 
form of materialism, and justifies a glance at the no- 
tion that the brain in itself considered, is the origi- 
nal source of thought and consciousness. 

" The brain has been analyzed, and more than eight 
tenths of its substance has been found to be water. 
Indeed this, mixed up with a little albumen, a still 
less quantity of fat, osmazome, phosphorus, acids, 
salts and sulphur, constitute its material elements. 
In all cases water largely predominates. Take 
even the pineal gland — that interior and mysterious 
organ of the brain, supposed by Descartes, and by 
many philosophers after him, to be the peculiar seat 
of the soul — even this has been analyzed. Its prin- 

* Butler's Analogy, Part I. Chapter i. 



DOMINION OVER THE BODY. 



201 



cipal elements are found to be phosphate of lime, to- 
gether with a small proportion of carbonate of lime 
and phosphates of ammonia and magnesia." 

" If the brain at large constitutes the soul, then 
the soul is only a peculiar combination of oxygen and 
hydrogen with albumen, acids, salts, sulphur, etc. Or, 
if the pineal gland constitutes the soul, then the prin- 
cipal element of soul is phosphate of lime ! 

" If this wonderful theory is true, it may be safely 
conceded that we gain something by it. We have at 
last found out what the soul is. And when the wise 
man again inquires, 4 Who knoweth the spirit of 
man V these sage philosophers may respond, ' We ! 
it is phosphate of lime.' But what! has a peculiar 
combination of a few elemental substances ; has phos- 
phate of lime been the cause, the fons et origo^ of all 
the glorious manifestations of intellect that have been 
made among men ? Is it osmazome that has given ori- 
gin to the creations of art ? Is it oxygen that blazes 
out in the glowing fires of eloquence ? Was it hy- 
drogen that soared in the philosophy of Newton, and 
sought with all-comprehending grasp to encircle the 
universe of Grod ? Was it phosphate of lime that 
wove the garlands of poetry, and thus touched the 
tender chords of human sympathy, taste and senti- 
ment ?"* 

And what has materialism to respond to this point 
blank challenge ? Is it prepared to attribute effects 
so ethereal and rapturous, to the gross and pondera- 
ble cause to which it belongs if its assumption be 
true ? Will it thus elevate the stream above its source, 
or gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles ? 

* Dr. Clark's "Man all Immortal/' p. 58. 



202 THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 



But we must pass to another topic. We have shown 
in the present chapter the dominion of mind over 
matter, in general, as shown in the arts, and in the 
development by man of portions of the vegetable and 
animal creation. We have also suggested the proba- 
ble order of creation, and the relation of the material 
to the spiritual universe. Consulting our personal 
consciousness upon the question of our spiritual occu- 
pancy of the body, we have shown by the control 
which the spirit exercises over the physical organism, 
and the relation of some of our organs to certain ar- 
tificial helps to sensation, that the body as a whole is 
the mere instrument of the mind, and no more the 
mind itself, than the locomotive is the engineer that 
runs it. And finally, that the idea that the brain is 
the living agent that controls the wondrous mechanism, 
and is the source of all our mental phenomena, is 
upon its face a palpable absurdity. 

From all this we conclude that although the body 
may be laid aside at death, as one lays down a tele- 
scope or a musical instrument, the mind will still live 
on, unconscious of disability, and unaffected by the 
fate of the material organism with which it was for a 
time connected, and over which it once held dominion. 



UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MIND AND BODY. 203 



CHAPTER VII. 

UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIND AND BODY. 

That the body and soul are distinct essences, and 
that the latter is not wholly dependent upon the 
former for -its powers and capabilities, may be seen 
by a comparison of various physical and mental 
phenomena, in the relations which the body and 
spirit bear to each other in their present state of 
union. 

I. The body reaches its acme of vigor and power 
at the age of thirty-five or forty.* From that period 
it is first stationary for a few years, and then, gradu- 
ally declines. Not so the mind. When the body 
halts, as if to rest from its toilsome progress, the mind 
presses onward as if spurning all impediments and 
continues her progressive march for years after the 
body has begun to decline. 

These facts go to corroborate the doctrine of man's 
two-fold nature, and of the capability of the soul to 
exist even independently of the body. 

* Bishop D. W. Clark fixes the zenith of bodily vigor at twenty-five 
or thirty, and the period of the greatest intellectual vigor at from forty 
to fifty. See Man all Immortal, p. 127. We think he fixes both these 
points too early in life, though that by no means affects the general fact, 
or the force of the argument. 



204 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



II. But to this it is replied that the decay of the 
mental faculties in extreme age, when the bodily pow- 
ers give way, justifies the inference that when the 
body utterly fails, the mind will become extinct with 
it. But this by no means follows ; because in the 
first place, the mind does not always decay with the 
body, as numerous and striking instances attest. 
Dryden translated the Iliad at the age of sixty-eight. 
Sir Isaac Newton solved the famous problem of the 
trajectories at the age of seventy- three. Hobbs trans- 
lated the Odyssey at the age of eighty-seven and the 
Iliad at the age of eighty-eight. Dr. Adam Clarke 
died at the age of seventy-two and John Wesley at 
the age of eighty-eight, both as vigorous intellectually 
as at the age of forty. 

Now if the body and mind were identical, they 
would not only fail together in most instances, but 
always ; hence a single exception, like those above 
cited, (and many others still more striking,) proves 
the distinct spirituality of the mind, and its power to 
exercise its functions independently of the condition 
of the body in which it dwells. In the second place 
it is a law of the universe that few changes that take 
place in nature shall be abrupt and sudden. The re- 
fracting power of the atmosphere renders gradual the 
approach and departure of the king of day. But for 
this the gloom of midnight would suddenly give place 
at the sun-rising to the painful glare of his untem- 
pered beams ; while at his going down the full blaze 
of day would be suddenly succeeded by deep and 
blinding darkness. Little by little the light fades 
from us, as the sun sinks down towards the western 
horizon, that the transition from day to night may 



UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MIND AND BODY. 205 



be both expected and agreeable. So in regard to 
man's brief day ; the rule of nature is that the tran- 
sition from this life to another shall be gradual, and 
therefore the more welcome ; and that failing powers 
of body and mind shall herald our departure out of 
time, and our entrance upon an eternal state of ex- 
istence.* 

Why then should the seeming mental decay of man 
as the body fails, even if that were the universal law, 
be regarded as furnishing even a presumption that 
the change of death is to terminate his existence ? 
Does not nature herself furnish us with analogies 
upon which we may found a far more cheering expecta- 
tion ? 

Let us not, then, misinterpret 

The gentle interlude, 
Of second childhood's sweet simplicity, 
A spring in autumn gentle and subdued, 

Telling of life to be. 

Flushing the weary heart 

With loving pictures of life's early bowers, 
Wreathing the spirit ere it doth depart, 

With sweet immortal flowers. 

* Upon the subject of " Growing Old," Henry Ward Beecher has 
somewhere uttered the following characteristic remarks : "Who cares, 
then, whether the hair be white or black ? Who cares whether the eye 
be far-sighted or near-sighted ? Who cares whether the hearing be poor 
or good ? Who cares what becomes of the senses ? This is not my 
whole life. This body is not my only heritage. I go to that bright 
land where the immortal part shines up and on forever and ever. And 
this consideration takes away the sadness occasioned by the conscious- 
ness of the failure of the earthly faculties." 

But what of the resurrection, and the " glorious body" in which the 
saints shall dwell after that event ? Will the soul be disembodied " for- 
ever and ever?" 



206 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



III. It is claimed by those who deny the immor- 
tality of the soul, that intelligence is a simple result 
of animal organization, as electricity is a result of the 
combination of certain elements in the galvanic 
battery; and that consequently when the body is dis- 
solved or dies, all mind or intelligence will cease, as 
galvanic action ceases when the battery is destroyed. 
But if this were true, the development of intelligence 
should in all cases be in exact proportion to the de- 
velopment and perfection of the bodily organism. 
No one expects the same galvanic power from a small 
Leyden jar that he does from a large one. Neither 
does he expect the same result from a single jar, that 
he does from a combination of jars in a battery. 
And, upon the principle above assumed, the same 
should be true of human bodies in the development 
of intelligence — such development should be in exact 
proportion to the size and perfection of the physical 
organization. The man of the most healthful and 
stalwart body should invariably exhibit the most in- 
telligence; while the effeminate, sickly, and diminu- 
tive should develope mental weakness and imbecility. 
But such is not the case. 

For, while it is admitted that the mind and body 
sympathize with each other, and that a healthy body 
is favorable to mental development, while the opposite 
in some cases seriously affects the intellect; it never- 
theless remains true that there is no such corre- 
spondence between the development of the mind and 
the body, as the doctrine of materialism demands. 
For, 

1. Persons of the same age and of equal physical 



UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MIND AND BODY. 207 

development often have a very unequal mental de- 
velopment. 

2. It often happens that persons of very small or 
delicate or feeble bodies possess wonderful intellectual 
powers. 

Isaac Watts, Richard Watson, Henry Kirk White, 
and Robert Pollok may be cited as examples. And 
even " General Tom Thumb," as he is called, and 
Calvin Edson, "the living skeleton," seemed to pos- 
sess their mental powers in full vigor, though their 
respective bodies were anomalies in human physi- 
ology. 

The newspapers for October 1861, contained an 
account of an Indian dwarf in Central America, 30 
years old, but 17 inches high, born without arms 
or legs, yet perfect in health, and speaking two 
languages. 

Persons are not unfrequently to be met with whose 
souls seem to be so out of proportion to their bodies, 
as to remind one of a frail ferry boat propelled by a 
marine engine of a thousand horse power, causing 
it to tremble from keel to capstan at every revolu- 
tion. 

3. Thousands of persons of the most robust and 
perfect physical organizations, rise but little above 
the rank of idiots in point of intelligence. As animal 
organisms they are well nigh faultless, while in mat- 
ters of thought and knowledge they are strikingly 
weak and deficient. 

All these are facts so well known as to require no 
further proof or illustration. And yet they are 
diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles 
of materialism. They not only indicate a distinction 



208 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

between body and spirit, and that the latter is not 
dependent upon the former for its being and powers ; 
but they also go to establish the idea that the mind 
may exist separate from the body, and when all the 
organs through which it held communion with the 
material world have crumbled back to dust. 



HER ENERGY UNDER DISABILITIES. 209 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ENERGY OF THE SOUL, IN CASES WHERE PHYSICAL 
ORGANS ARE WANTING. 

The energy often displayed by the soul of man in 
extemporizing for herself new channels of communi- 
cation with the external world, when any of her 
natural organs are destroyed, is another of the 
" signals " of her immortality. Are the eye and ear 
both wanting or useless, the smell and touch — the 
hands, and feet, and nose are made, to a great extent, 
to supply their place. 

L James Mitchell, who was deaf, blind, and dumb, 
could tell if a stranger were present, and in what 
direction, by the sense of smell alone. Dr. Moyse, a 
blind man, could distinguish a black dress on his 
friend by the same means. A blind man of Puiseaux, 
in France, could determine the quantity of fluid in a 
vessel, by the sound it produced by running from one 
vessel to another. Dr. Rush speaks of two blind 
brothers who once resided in Philadelphia, who knew 
when they approached a post in walking across a 
street, by the peculiar sound which the ground under 
their feet emitted in the neighborhood of the post; 
and could tell the names of a number of tame pigeons, 
with which they amused themselves in a little garden, 
14 



210 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



by only hearing them fly over their heads. Dr. 
Saunderson, who lost his sight in very early youth, 
and remained blind through life, acquired such acute- 
ness of touch that he could distinguish, by merely 
letting them pass through his fingers, spurious coins, 
which were so well executed as to deceive even skill- 
ful judges who could see. John Metcalf, of England, 
though perfectly blind, became an efficient surveyor.* 
II. Mr. Fela, of Antwerp, was a successful painter. 
And yet he had no hands or arms. Insurmountable as 
this obstacle might seem it was overcome by his in- 
controllable genius. Holding the pencil between his 
toes instead of his fingers, he succeeded better than 
many others with arms and hands, but destitute of 
his artistic inspiration, f 

* Upham's Mental Philosophy, pp. 60-65. 

t A writer in the New York Evening Post for August 21, 1862, thus 
refers to this " armless painter of An^verp. 

"A little over a year ago I sauntered one day into the museum of 
that quaint and clean city, and from lingering here and there before 
prim Dutch pictures, my attention was attracted by the singular move- 
ments of a person in the distance seated before his easel. The thermo- 
meter was somewhere in the ' nineties/ and the seated artist was using 
his /oofkerchief." 

" Seat yourself on an ordinary chair; doff boots; so trim the inner 
covering of your feet, commonly called socks, that your toes will be 
free to do your bidding ; take now your kerchief between the toe and 
' index ' finger of, say your right foot, and with the kerchief so held 
'cool off' and dry your face, the back part of your head and your neck 
fore and aft. Transfer now the kerchief to the grasp of the left foot, 
and let a like /oofipulation be gone through with until the left side be 
made comfortable, and you will, in part, have done what, to my great 
astonishment, that armless artist Fela accomplished with apparent 
ease." 

"Mr. Fela was copying a little figure from a group by an old 
master. His picture was far advanced ; he worked on the eye, and the 
delicacy of the touch seemed the most marvellous feat of his feet that I 
saw accomplished." 



HER ENERGY UNDER DISABILITIES. 211 



III. Miss Mary Collins of New Jersey had 
been blind from infancy. At the age of forty she 
embraced Christ as her Saviour and hope, and 
conceived a strong desire to read the word of God. 
By the sale of ballads of her own composing in 
the streets of Philadelphia, she obtained money with 
which to procure a " spelling book," in raised cha- 
racters, and two weeks' tuition in some school for 
the blind. She went on, studying and reading with 
her fingers, till she had mastered the alphabet, and 
could read easy words and sentences. A copy of 
the Psalms in raised letters was then procured for 
her, and when the writer saw her at a camp-meeting 
in 1841, she had read most of the Psalms several 
times over. 

But what arrested attention more than anything 
else was that all her fingers were wrapped up, 
each in a white cloth, except one on each hand, 
then in use to read with; and on opening the book 
of Psalms, whole pages were found stained, line 
after line, with blood! The tops of the raised let- 
ters, though of paper, were hard and sharp, so 
that in a short time they wore through her finger 
ends; and before she was aware of it, the blood 
would be oozing from her fingers, as she was feeling 
out the letters, words and sentences, line after line, 
and drinking in divine knowledge therefrom, as 
from fountains of living waters. " Blessed be the 
Lord my strength," she exclaimed, " which teacheth 
my hands to war and my fingers to fight." Ps. 
cxliv. 1. 

" Never," said she, "shall I forget my feelings 
when, trying to read a little in a raised New Testa- 



212 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



ment, I came to a long and hard word which I 
had never found in the Psalms, and began to spell 
it out, r-e-s-u-r-r-e-e — and it flashed upon my mind 
that it was resurrection ! It was the first time I 
had ever read that startling word, and my soul was 
thrilled as by an electric shock." 

She spent most of her time in reading, and when 
one set of fingers were worn through, and became 
painful, she would wrap them up to heal a little and 
undo the next best pair. Thus she kept four fingers 
on each hand, almost constantly worn through and 
bleeding, that they might serve as eyes to convey 
to the soul a knowledge of the form of the letters, 
and through the letters and words a knowledge of the 
mind of God.* 

Now if the body of man is a kind of galvanic 
battery, and intelligence a mere result of certain 
material combinations, why this struggle of the soul 
to assert herself, when her natural channels of 
intercourse with the outside world are destroyed ? 
Will electricity make its way through glass if a 
proper conductor be wanting? Will light penetrate 
sheet iron if it cannot enter or escape by a win- 
dow? And if intelligence, after all, is but a phe- 
nomenon of matter under certain conditions, why 
does it spurn all material laws, and cut out new 
channels for itself where its natural media are de- 
stroyed? 

All this fertility of resource — this energy of the 

* Such cases strongly support the opinion of Diderot, that persons 
deprived of both sight and hearing, might so increase the sensibility 
of touch as to locate the soul in the tips of the fingers. See Upliam's 

Mental Philosophy, p. 66. 



HER ENERGY UNDER DISABILITIES. 213 



soul amid physical adversity — is but an advertise- 
ment of her unlikeness to anything else on earth, and 
a token of the subordination of the body to the spirit, 
and the relation of the latter to an enduring and an 
immortal state of existence. 



214 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER IX. 

UNIMPAIRED MENTAL POWERS UNDER BODILY MUTILA- 
TIONS. 

The ability of the soul to retain all her faculties 
unimpaired while the body is subjected to great muti- 
lation, is a striking proof of her independence, and 
of her immortal destination. 

I. If the mind were material and mortal like the 
body, or rather, were it a mere phase of a bodily 
function, as materialism assumes, not only should 
intelligence be in all cases in exact proportion to 
the size and power of the body, and ebb and flow as 
health fades or returns; but every case of physical 
mutilation should be attended with a corresponding 
loss of intelligence. The loss of an arm or a leg 
should be just so much abstracted from the mind of 
the subject. 

II. But such is not the case. A survivor of the wars of 
the first Napoleon lost an eye, an arm, a leg, and a piece 
of his skull, (which was substituted by a silver plate,) 
and yet not a thought was lost, neither was there the 
slightest diminution of intelligence. In the battles 
of the late rebellion of 1861, one man lost both arms, 
and both legs, but lost none of his grammar, or 
geography, or military tactics. He was conscious 



UNIMPAIRED BY BODILY MUTILATIONS. 215 



that his soul was still entire and unimpaired, though 
the body in which it dwelt was reduced to an inert 
and unseemly trunk of human flesh. How, then, are 
we deceived by our very consciousness, if the mind, 
by remaining intact amid such physical mutilation 
does not thereby indicate her independence of the 
body, and her destination for immortality.* 

III. But it may be replied that the brain is the 
thinking power and the seat of knowledge, and con- 
sequently the loss of the legs and arms ought not to 
affect the intelligence. Let us see: the spinal marrow 
is but an elongation of the brain, and is of the same 
medullary substance. And so of all the nerves that 
branch off from it, from the head to the pelvis ; — they 
are all of the same general substance as the brain. 
While, therefore, the amount of cerebral matter in 
the limbs is much less than is left in the cavity of the 
skull, it is certainly an appreciable amount, as com- 
pared with the whole, — an amount the loss of which 
ought sensibly to affect the intellect, if materialism be 
true. For if brain is all the soul man possesses, and 
the nerves are in reality a part of the brain, then 
whoever loses part of his nervous system by the loss 
of a limb, inevitably loses part of his brain power, or 

* A young officer in the British army had engaged himself in mar- 
riage to a young lady in England, before embarking for this country. 
While here, he was wounded and lost a leg. He accordingly wrote his 
affianced bride that he was maimed and disfigured, and so different 
from what he was when the engagement was formed, that he felt it his 
duty to release her from all obligation to become his wife. To this 
manly and honorable letter the lady returned the equally noble reply, 
that she was willing to marry him if there was enough of his body left to 
hold his soul, — a reply that indicated her appreciation of the two-fold 
nature of man, and the subordinate importance of the body to the im- 
mortal spirit. 



- 216 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



soul, and should know less and have less mental 
capacity than before the amputation. But as this is 
not the case, it follows that though the mind may 
operate through the nervous system, it is nevertheless 
distinct from that system, and may survive, though 
that may perish. 

IV. Even the brain itself may be extensively dis- 
eased, if not wholly removed, without affecting the 
reasoning faculties. 

Bishop Clark refers to a case mentioned by Aber- 
crombie in which one half of the entire brain of a 
lady had been reduced to a mass of suppuration by 
disease, and yet she had retained her faculties to the 
last, and had been enjoying herself at a convivial 
party only a few hours before her sudden death. He 
also cites a case mentioned by Dr. Ferrier in which a 
man who died suddenly, but who had retained all his 
faculties unimpaired till the moment of death, was 
found upon examination to have a brain the right 
hemisphere of which was destroyed by suppuration.* 

" The celebrated Saussure was affected with exten- 
sive disorganization of the brain for the space of five 
years, without any sensible alteration of the intellec- 
tual powers. Mr. Howship relates a case where, in 
consequence of a slight blow on the head, the whole 
lobe of the brain was found in a state of scirrhus 
forty years afterward. But with the exception of oc- 
casional pain, the subject had no other symptoms till 
towards the decline of life, when she became gradu- 
ally sleepy and stupid. 

" A lad aged eleven years received a kick from a 
horse, which fractured the frontal bone. In two hours 

* Man aU Immortal, p. 64. 



UNIMPAIRED BY BODILY MUTILATION. 217 



after, he recovered every faculty of his mind, and 
they continued vigorous for six weeks, and to an hour 
of his death, which took place on the forty-third day. 
He sat up every day, often walked to the window, 
frequently laughed at the gambols of the boys in the 
streets, &c. On dissection, the space of the skull 
previously occupied by the right anterior and middle 
lobes of the cerebrum, presented a perfect cavity, filled 
with sero-purulent matter, the lobe having been de- 
stroyed by suppuration. The third lobe was much 
disorganized. The left hemisphere was in a state of 
ramollissement (or softening) down to the corpus cal- 
losum."* 

To the same effect is the celebrated case recorded 
by O'Halloran, where there was great destruction of 
the brain without any derangement of the intellect. 

"The whole brain," says Dr. Payne, " may be 
sliced down to the medulla oblongata, or beginning of 
the spinal cord, without affecting, at the time, the or- 
ganic functions, "f 

" Morgagni and Haller," says Bishop Clark, " claim 
to have ascertained by a wide induction of facts, that 
every part of the brain has been found to be destroyed 
or disorganized, in one instance or another, while yet 
the individuals have not been deprived of mind, or 
even affected in their intellectual powers. "J 

" M. Flouren's experiments," says Dr. Moore, " are 
too numerous and extensive to quote ; but they prove 
that the brain may be destroyed to a large extent, in 

* Medical and Physiological Commentaries, Vol. 2, p. 139, note; also 
Payne on the Soul and Instinct, note, p. 90. 
■)• Payne on the Soul, Instinct and Life, p. 36. 
% Man all Immortal, pp. 63, 64. 



218 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



any direction, without destroying any of its func- 
tions."* 

Such instances not only disprove the fundamental 
assumptions of Phrenology, but they equally overthrow 
materialism in general, and foreshadow an immortal 
life for the spirit, by indicating her ability to live on 
undisturbed in her functions not only while the body 
is mutilated, or wasted by disease, but even while her 
most vital medium of connection with the material 
world is more or less removed, indurated or dissolved. 

" The mutilations which the human body under- 
goes/' says Chalmers, " and yet without the destruc- 
tion of the living powers, warrant the conclusion, 
not that the soul must, but that the soul may survive 
the entire dissolution of that material frame-work 
wherewith it is now encompassed, "f 

* " Soul and Body," p. 54. 

f Lectures on Butler's Analogy, Posthumous works, Vol. 2, p. 62. 



REVERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 219 



CHAPTER X. 

REVERY, SLEEP, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 

In the previous chapter we have called attention to 
a variety of physical and mental phenomena, exhibi- 
ted by the body and mind in their present state of 
union, and which go to prove the distinct spiritual na- 
ture of the latter, and its power to survive the decay 
of the body, and live on, with all its functions unim- 
paired, when the body is dissolved. In continuation 
of the same general topic — the relations of the soul 
to the body — let us now look at another class of phe- 
nomena, namely, those that occur in revery, sleep, 
dreaming, catalepsy, &c, and see if they also do not 
all converge to the same point, and furnish strong 
presumptive proof that the spirit of man is immortal. 

I. "Revery," says Dr. Good, "is the dream of a 
man while awake. He is so intently bent upon a par- 
ticular train of thought, that he is torpid to every 
thing else : he sees nothing, he hears nothing, he feels 
nothing ; and the only difference between the two, 
(revery and dreaming) is, that in common dreaming, 
the sensitive and irritative power of the external 
senses is exhausted progressively and generally, while 
the will partakes of the exhaustion ; and that in rev- 
ery the whole is directed to a single outlet, the will, 



220 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



instead of being exhausted, being riveted upon this 
one point alone ; and the external senses being alone 
rendered torpid from the drain that is thus made upon 
them to support the superabundant flow of a sensitive 
and irritative power expended upon the prevailing 
ecstacy."* 

The celebrated Rittenhouse was so absorbed in wit- 
nessing the transit of Venus across the sun's disc in 
1799 as to lose all control over his muscular system, 
and become helpless in the observatory. Another 
modern astronomer passed a whole night in his obser- 
vatory, witnessing a celestial phenomenon, and on be- 
ing accosted in the morning replied that he would go 
to bed before it was late. He had gazed the whole 
night and did not know it. 

The mathematician Viote was sometimes so ab- 
sorbed by his calculations that he has been known to 
pass three days and three nights without food. It is 
related of the Italian poet Marini, that while he was 
intensely engaged in revising his Adonis, he placed his 
leg on the fire, where it burned for some time without 
his being aware of it.f 

Such cases seem almost incredible, and yet they 
can scarce be doubted. Budhist devotees so far ab- 
stract themselves as not only to endure what would 
cause extreme suffering to others without the least ap- 
parent pain, but also to become unconscious of all 
bodily existence. 

II. Look also at the phenomenon of sleep. Sup- 
pose, instead of the present order of things, it had 
been ordained that man should sleep only once a year, 

* Book of Nature, p. 253. 

f Moore's Power of the Soul, &c, p. 105. 



REVERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 221 



and then only for a few hours ; and suppose men had 
lived a year without any experience or knowledge, 
upon the subject before the first instance of sleep oc- 
curred. At length one of their number begins to 
grow languid, ceases to talk, seeks a couch as if sick, 
his eyes close, and he becomes inactive. In vain is 
he called upon to explain the difficulty — he neither 
sees nor hears. All intelligence is as perfectly sup- 
pressed for the time being as if he were dead. 

Now in the absence of experience what reason 
would his comrades have for supposing he would 
ever again awake to consciousness and intelligence? 
Would not the natural inference rather be that all 
thought and knowledge were at an end forever ? 

" What can possibly be more opposite to each 
other/' says John Mason Good, "than the two states 
of wakefulness and sleep ? — the senses in full vigor 
and activity, alive to every pursuit, and braced up to 
every exertion, — and a suspension of all sense what- 
ever, a looseness and inertness of the voluntary 
powers, so nearly akin to death, that nothing but a 
daily experience of the fact itself could justify us in 
expecting that we should ever recover from it." * 

And yet in a short time the sleeper awakes, and is 
more vigorous and active than before. A mysterious 
change has come over the body, but the mind still 
lives on — a natural intimation that it may survive 
still greater changes, and live even when we sleep 
our last sleep, and the body is dissolved. 

III. But the activity and achievements of the mind, 
at times, in what are called dreams, is perhaps still 
more pertinent to the subject under consideration. 

* Book of Nature, Sec. vii. p. 243. 



222 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



A student retires to bed perplexed with a difficult 
problem, and perhaps despairing of its solution. He 
falls asleep and in a dream solves the problem, and 
on waking finds his solution correct. A mechanic or 
inventor is in trouble about some piece of machinery, 
and in that state of mind retires to rest. He falls 
asleep, but the mind goes on with its operations, and 
in a dream, he sees how the difficulty may be obviated, 
and that very idea, reached while the body was 
asleep, may be the most important item in a valuable 
invention and patent. 

"A gentleman engaged in a banking establishment 
made an error in his account, and, after an interval 
of several months, spent days and nights in vain 
endeavors to discover where the mistake lay. At 
length, worn out by fatigue, he went to bed, and in a 
dream recollected all the circumstances that gave rise 
to the error. He remembered that on a certain day 
several persons were waiting in the bank, when one 
individual, who was a most amazing stammerer, be- 
came so excessively impatient and noisy that, to get 
rid of him, his money was paid before his turn, and 
the entrance of this sum was neglected, and thus 
arose the deficiency in the account." * 

"Tartini, a celebrated violin player, composed his 
famous Devils Sonata while he dreamed that the 
devil challenged him to a trial of skill, on his own 
violin. Cabanis often, during his dreams, saw clearly 
into the bearing of political events which baffled him 
when awake. Condorcet frequently left his deep and 
complicated calculations unfinished when obliged to 



* Moore's Soul and Body, p. 117. 



RE VERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 



223 



retire to rest, and found their results unfolded in his 
dreams." * 

"I have formerly referred," says Abercrombie, 
"to some remarkable cases in which languages long 
forgotten were recovered during a state of delirium. 
Something very analogous seems to occur in dream- 
ing, of which I have received the following example 
from an able and intelligent friend. In his youth he 
was very fond of the Greek language, and made con- 
siderable progress in it ; but afterwards, being actively 
engaged in other pursuits, he so entirely forgot it 
that he could not even read the words. But he has 
often dreamed of reading Greek works which he had 
been accustomed to use at college, and with a most 
vivid impression of fully understanding them." f 

Sir John Herschell, the famous astronomer, de- 
clared that the following stanza was composed by 
him while asleep and dreaming November 28, 1841, 
and written down immediately on waking: — 

Throw thyself on thy G-od, nor mock him with feeble denial ? 

Sure of his love, and oh ! sure of his mercy at last j 
Bitter and deep though the draught, yet shun not the cup of thy trial, 

But in its healing effect, smile at its bitterness past. 

Coleridge, the poet, says that as he was once read- 
ing in the Pilgrimage of Purchas an account of the 
palace and garden of Khan Kubla, he fell into a 
sleep, and in that situation composed an entire poem 
of not less than two hundred lines, some of which he 
afterwards committed to writing. The poem is en- 
titled Kubla Khan, and begins as follows : 



* Moore's Soul and Body, p. 82. 
f Intellectual Philosophy, p. 205. 



224 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL* 



In Hanadu did Kubla Khan 
A stately pleasure dome decree ; 
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 
Through caverns measureless to man 
Down to a sunless sea.* 

And how often is it the case that the mind keeps 
up its exertions during our sleeping hours to such an 
extent that we feel oppressed with fatigue on waking, 
as if we had been toiling rather than sleeping. 

Now upon the hypothesis that the body and mind 
are alike material, how are these things to be ac- 
counted for? The body is at rest, why is not the 
spirit? Why, when the body is prostrate and quiet 
does the soul seem often to seize the occasion, to 
roam abroad into unexplored regions, and hear, and 
see, and act, and suffer, or rejoice, without the inter- 
vention of material organs? Surely this is a strange 
phenomenon if the body and mind are identical, and 
the soul is destined now and hereafter to share the 
fate of its material tenement. Should not our very 
dreams by night instruct us that we have within 
these changing bodies of ours a living active principle 
— a spirit — which disdains implicit obedience to physi- 
cal laws, refuses to share in the vicissitudes of the 
material body — to rest when it rests, and die when it 
dies, — and may, therefore, live on when the body 
shall crumble back to dust. 

" Her ceaseless flight, though devious, speaks her nature 
Of subtler essence than the trodden clod ; 
Active, ethereal, towering, unconfined, 
Unfettered with her gross companion's fall ; — 
Even silent night proclaims my soul immortal : 
Even silent night proclaims eternal day." 



* Upham's Mental Philosophy, p. 108. 



REVERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 225 

IV. The conscious activity of the soul while the 
body is in a state of trance, or catalepsy, is another 
indication of her independency of the body, and her 
probable immortality. 

"We have all heard and read," says Dr. Good, 
"of such extraordinary occurrences of trances, or 
apparent absences of the soul from the body; we 
have heard and read of persons who, after having 
been apparently dead for many days, and on the 
point of being buried, have returned to a full pos- 
session of life and health; and although most of 
these histories are wrapped up in so much mystery 
and superstition, as to be altogether unworthy of 
notice, there are many too cautiously drawn up and 
authenticated to be dismissed in so cursory a man- 
ner." * 

In the early history of "camp meetings" in this 
country instances of catalepsy induced by religious 
excitement were frequent. In those cases all the 
animal functions were suspended; the countenance 
was pale as a corpse ; the body grew stiff and cold ; 
and nearly every indication of death appeared. And 
yet during these periods the subject was usually in- 
tensely conscious, and upon recovery would describe 
the activity and the experiences of the mind during 
that strange parenthesis, in the most glowing lan- 
guage. But perhaps no one case will more fully 
illustrate this general subject, than that of Rev. 
Wm. Tennent, a Presbyterian minister of Free- 
hold, N. J. 

" He was conversing one morning with his brother, 
in Latin, on the state of the soul, when he fainted 

* Book of Nature, p. 252. 

15 



22(3 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and died away. After the usual time he was laid out 
on a board, according to the common practice of the 
country, and the neighborhood were invited to attend 
the funeral on the next day. In the evening his phy- 
sician and friend returned from a ride into the coun- 
try, and was afflicted beyond measure at the news of 
his death. He could not be persuaded that it was 
certain ; and, on being told that one of the persons 
who had assisted in laying out the body thought he 
had observed a little tremor of the flesh under the 
arm, although the body was cold and stiff, he endea- 
vored to ascertain the fact. He first put his own 
hand into warm water, to make it as sensitive as pos- 
sible, and then felt under the arm, and at the heart, 
and affirmed that he felt an unusual warmth, though 
no one else could. 

" He had the body restored to a warm bed, and in- 
sisted that the people who had been invited to the fu- 
neral, should be requested not to attend. To this the 
brother objected as absurd, the eyes being sunk, the 
lips discolored, and the whole body cold and stiff. 
However, the doctor finally prevailed, and all proba- 
ble means were used to discover symptoms of return- 
ing life. But the third day arrived, and no hopes 
were entertained of success but by the doctor, who 
never left him night or day. The people were again 
invited, and assembled to attend the funeral. The 
doctor still objected, and at last confined his request 
for delay to one hour, then to half an hour, and finally 
to a quarter of an hour. 

" He had discovered that the tongue was much 
swollen, and threatened to crack. He was endeavor- 
ing to soften it by some emollient ointment, put upon 



REVERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 227 * 

it with a feather, when the brother came in, about the 
expiration of the last period, and mistaking what the 
doctor was doing for an attempt to feed him, mani- 
fested some resentment, and said, in a spirited tone, 
4 It is shameful to be feeding a lifeless corpse ;' and 
insisted, with earnestness, that the funeral should im- 
mediately proceed. 

" At this critical and important moment, the body, 
to the great alarm and astonishment of all present, 
opened its eyes, gave a dreadful groan, and sank 
again into apparent death. This put an end to all 
thought of burying him, and every effort was again 
employed, in hopes of bringing about a speedy resus- 
citation. In about an hour, the eyes again opened, a 
heavy groan proceeded from the body, and again all 
appearance of animation vanished. In another hour 
life seemed to return with more power, and a complete 
revival took place, to the great joy of the family and 
friends, and to the no small astonishment and convic- 
tion of the very many who had been ridiculing the 
idea of restoring to life a dead body."* 

" The writer of these memoirs," says his biogra- 
pher, " was greatly interested by these uncommon 
events ; and on a favorable occasion, earnestly pressed 
Mr. Tennent for a minute account of what his views 
and apprehensions were, while he lay in this extraor- 
dinary state of suspended animation. He discovered 
great reluctance to enter into any explanation of his 
perceptions and feelings at that time ; but being im- 
portunately urged to do it, he at length consented, 
and proceeded with a solemnity not to be described : 

"While I was conversing with my brother," said 

* Life of Rev. William Tennent, pp. 23, 24. 



228 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



he, " on the state of my soul, and the fears I had en- 
tertained for my future welfare, I found myself, in 
an instant, in another state of existence, under the 
direction of a superior being, who ordered me to fol- 
low him. I was accordingly wafted along, I know 
not how, till I beheld at a distance an ineffable glory, 
the impression of which on my mind it is impossible 
to communicate to mortal man. I immediately reflect- 
ed on my happy change, and thought — Well, blessed 
be God ! I am safe at last, notwithstanding all my 
fears. I saw an innumerable host of happy beings, 
surrounding the inexpressible glory, in acts of adora- 
tion and joyous worship ; but I did not see any bodily 
shape or representation in the glorious appearance. 
I heard things unutterable. I heard their songs and 
hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise, with unspeak- 
able rapture. I felt joy unutterable and full of glory. 
I then applied to my conductor, and requested leave 
to join the happy throng ; on which he tapped me on 
the shoulder and said, 6 You must return to the earth.' 
This seemed like a sword through my heart. In an 
instant I recollected to have seen my brother standing 
before me disputing with the doctor. The three days 
during which I had appeared lifeless, seemed to me 
to be not more than ten or twenty minutes. The idea 
of returning to this world of sorrow and trouble gave 
me such a shock that I fainted repeatedly. 

" Such was the effect on my mind of what I had 
seen and heard, that if it be possible for a human be- 
ing to live entirely above the world and the things of 
it, for sometime afterward, I was that person. The 
ravishing sounds of the songs and hallelujahs that I 
heard, and the very words that were uttered, were not 



REVERY, DREAMING AXD CATALEPSY. 229 



out of my ears, when awake, for at least three years. 
All the kingdoms of the earth were in my sight as 
nothing and vanity ; and so great were my ideas of 
heavenly glory, that nothing which did not in some 
measure relate to it, could command my serious at- 
tention."* 

How strikingly does such a narrative remind one 
of the trance of Peter, Acts x. 10, and of the words 
of Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 2-4 : " I knew a man in Christ 
about fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I can- 
not tell ; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell : 
God knoweth ;) such an one caught up to the third 
heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the 
body, or out of the body, I cannot tell : God know- 
eth ;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and 
heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a 
man to utter." 

"What reason have we for doubting that the trance 
of Mr. Tennent was similar to that of St. Paul, and 
that in both instances the soul was temporarily sepa- 
rated from the body ? We base no argument on this 
assumption, however, being content with the indispu- 
table fact in all these cases, that the mind is conscious 
and active though the body is apparently dead. 

V. Persons resuscitated from apparent drowning 
often relate similar experiences of the consciousness 
and activity of the mind, while every animal function 
of the body was suspended. Memory, will, conscious- 
ness, hope and fear were as active as if the body was 
in its normal state, and all its functions in active 
play. 

VI. In other instances, though the heart and lungs, 

* Life of Tennent, pp. 28-31. 



230 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



which are among the most vital portions of the human 
frame, have ceased to perform their functions, and 
have continued inactive for a greater or less period 
of time, the mind has retained not only its conscious- 
ness, but the unimpaired use of all its faculties and 
powers. Take the following instance copied from the 
Book of Nature by Dr. John Mason Good, as an illus- 
tration in point : 

" In the year 1769, Mr. John Hunter, being then 
forty-one years of age, of a sound constitution, and 
subject to no disease except a casual fit of the gout, 
was suddenly attacked with a pain in the stomach, 
which was shortly succeeded by a total suspension of 
the action of the heart and lungs. By the power of 
1 the will, or rather by violent striving, he occasionally 
inflated the lungs, but over the heart he had no con- 
trol whatever ; nor, though he was attended by four 
of the chief physicians in London from the first, could 
the action of either be restored by medicine. In 
about three-quarters of an hour, however, the vital 
actions began to return of their own accord, and in 
two hours he was perfectly recovered. 

"In this attack," observed Mr. (now Sir Everard) 
Home, who has given an interesting memoir of his 
life, " there was a suspension of the most material 
involuntary actions ; even involuntary breathing was 
stopped ; while sensation, with its consequences, as 
thinking and acting, with the will, were perfect, and 
all the voluntary actions were as strong as before.' ' 

"In the whole history of man," continued Dr. 
Good, "I do not know of a more extraordinary case. 
The functions of the soul were perfect, while the most 
important functions of the body, those upon which 



REVERY, DREAMING AND CATALEPSY. 231 



life depends absolutely, in all ordinary cases, were 
dead for nearly an hour. Why did not the soul de- 
part from the body ? and why did not the body itself 
commence that change, that subjection to the laws of 
chemical affinity which it evinces in every ordinary 
case of the death or inaction of the vital organs ? 
Because in the present instance, as in every instance 
of suspended animation from hanging or drowning, 
the vital principle, whatever it consists in, had not 
ceased, or deserted the corporeal frame. It continued 
visible in its effect, though invisible in its essence 
and mode of operation."* 

Is there no significance in all these facts ? How 
strikingly do they comport with and corroborate the 
revealed doctrine of the soul's immortality. And 
how completely do they refute the opposite idea that 
the mind is merely a function of the body, necessarily 
sharing its condition of quiescence or activity, and 
doomed to perish when the body dies. Ah, no ! 

Cold in the dust this perished heart may lie, 
But that which warmed it once shall never die. 

* Book of Nature, pp. 253, 254. 



232 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XI. 

VIGOR AND ACTIVITY OF THE SOUL IN THE HOUR OF 

DEATH. 

Life makes the soul dependent on the dust, 
Death gives her wings to mount above the spheres. 

The vigor and activity of the soul in the hour of 
death, and amid bodily dissolution, is an evidence 
of its independency of the body, and its consequent 
immortality. 

I. The history of the Christian martyrs furnishes 
many striking illustrations of the power of the soul 
to rise superior to the terrors of death, and the 
agony of bodily dissolution, and show herself essen- 
tially indestructible and immortal. 

Polycarp sang hymns of praise to God while his 
body was being consumed by the fires of martyrdom. 
While John Buss was being burned he sang a hymn 
with so loud and cheerful a voice that it was heard 
above the crackling of the fagots, and the noise of 
the multitude. Jerome of Prague sang amid the 
flames of martyrdom till his voice was stifled by 
them. 

"Thus we hear Lambert while consuming by a 
slow fire, exclaiming, ' None but Christ! none but 
Christ!' Thus also died Cranmer — the soul triumph- 



VIGOR AMID BODILY DISSOLUTION. 233 



ing over all that was terrible in bodily suffering — 
steadily hold his hand in the flame, and exclaim, 
while it is being consumed, 'This hand! this wicked 
hand.' 

"So also Mrs. Cecily Ormes, who was added to the 
noble host of martyrs at the early age of twenty-two. 
Approaching the stake, already charred by the fires 
that had consumed two martyrs before her, she 
clasped it with her hands, exclaiming, 'Welcome! 
welcome, Cross of Christ!' 

"But a still more striking instance of the triumph 
of the soul over the body is the case of James Bain- 
ham. When his legs and his arms were half con- 
sumed, and his body scorched and seething in the 
flame, he cried out to the bystanders, 'Ye look for 
miracles ! Here, now, ye may see one. This fire is 
to me a bed of roses.' 

"Before being led to the stake, Mr. Hawkes agreed 
with his friends upon a signal by which to express 
his feelings when he should be no longer capable of 
speech. When he was so nearly consumed that all 
thought him dead, and when his whole body was 
crisped with the fire, the skin of his arms drawn up, 
and his fingers literally consumed, suddenly seeming 
to recollect the appointed signal, he raised his finger- 
less hands above his head and clapped them three 
times in token of triumph."* 

Thus triumphed many of the martyrs, while their 
bodies were being devoured by wild beasts, or con- 
sumed by fire. ♦ 

II. Numerous instances of unimpaired and even 
unusual intellectual vigor in the hour of death, by 

* Man all Immortal, pp. 60, 61. 



234 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



disease, and when the body was already a ruin, 
fully demonstrate that the body and spirit are 
distinct; and that the latter may remain uninjured 
and vigorous, though the former has crumbled back 
to dust. 

"The Rev. Alanson Reed, only half an hour before 
his last breath, said, 'I know full well that I am at 
the point of death, but the idea of a spirit being ex- 
tinguished in death, is utterly inconceivable. The 
soul is going forth, but it has no consciousness of 
dying; rather the consciousness of living on rises 
above every other feeling, and it is impossible for me 
to doubt.' 

" The celebrated Boerhaave contemplated the per- 
ceptible difference between his mind and his body, in 
his last illness, as being like a philosophical experi- 
ment to him, that his intellectual self would not perish 
with his bodily dissolution. 

" Haller, as death advanced to the mastery over 
his bodily system, could only measure its progress 
by keeping his fingers upon his own pulse. 6 The 
artery, my friend,' said he at length, 6 ceases to 
beat;' and almost instantly expired. 

"The Rev. Mr. Halyburton, when dying, said to a 
brother minister, 'I think my case is a pretty fair 
demonstration of the immortality of the soul. My 
bones are rising through my skin. This body is 
going away to corruption, and yet my intellectuals 
are so lively, that I cannot perceive the least altera- 
tion or decay in them."* 

"It seems," said Dr. Payson amid his dying 
agonies, "as if the soul disdained such a narrow 

* Man all Immortal, p. 68. 



VIGOR AMID BODILY DISSOLUTION. 235 



prison, and was determined to break through with 
an angel's energy — until it mounts on high. It 
seems as if my soul had found a pair of new wings, 
and was so eager to try them that, in her fluttering, 
she would rend the fine net-work of the body to 
pieces." 

"I now feel," said Dr. Fish, when near his end, 
"a strength of soul, and an energy of mind which 
this body, though afflicted and pained, cannot im- 
pair. The soul has an energy of its own. And so 
far from my body pressing my soul down to the dust, 
I feel as if my soul had almost power to raise my 
body upward, and bear it away." In view of such a 
death, well might the poet exclaim, 

Oh may I triumph so, 

When all my warfare's past ; 
And, dying, find my latest foe, 

Under my feet at last ! 

III. It will not be denied that the hope of eternal 
life which inspires the bosom of the dying Chris- 
tian, has a tendency to invigorate the soul, and 
impart in the hour of death a supernatural strength 
and courage. And yet it cannot be said that the 
above recited mental phenomena are wholly due to 
this cause. The soul has exhibited the same in- 
tellectual vigor, and superiority to the body, even 
when the unhappy subject was dying in despair. 
To give but a single illustration, take the case of 
the young man of high position, and of superior 
talents and education, whose last hours are so touch- 
ingly described by Dr. Young. To spare the feelings 
of his relatives and friends, he speaks of him under a 
fictitious name. 



236 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

" This body," says the wretched Altarnont, " is all 
weakness and pain ; but my soul, as if stung up by 
torment to greater strength and spirit, is full power- 
ful to reason, full mighty to suffer. And that which 
thus triumphs within the jaws of mortality, is, doubt- 
less, immortal." 

IV. The bearing of such instances upon the sub- 
ject of the soul's immortality is obvious. They clearly 
show that the mind is not the body ; that it does not 
waste with it, and does not die with it. 

" To make the argument plain," says Dr. Lee, "we 
say that a single instance in which the mind kindles 
up at the moment of death, and blazes out with un- 
wonted intellectual fires, while the body is wan and 
cold and helpless, cannot be reconciled with the idea 
that the mind is any part of the material body, and 
that it wastes and dies with it. On the other hand 
those cases in which the mind appears to waste with 
the body and go out like the sun, passing gradually 
behind a cloud, deeper and darker, until its last ray 
is lost, can be explained in perfect harmony with the 
theory of the immateriality of the mind, and even its 
immortality. Does the mind fail, as in second child- 
hood — or does it grow gradually dim as the body 
wastes under the influence of disease ? The explana- 
tion is this : the bodily organs through which the mind 
communicates with the material world, in these par- 
ticular cases, are impaired by age or disease. In 
many cases of death from sickness, the mind appears 
to waste away, or gradually sink into a state of sleep, 
merely because the will does not determine it in a di- 
rection to develope itself to the world without. But 
that the mind is there, distinct from the wasting, dy- 



VIGOR AMID BODILY DISSOLUTION. 



237 



ing body, is clear from the many cases already re- 
ferred to, in which the mind, being roused by the 
prospect of heaven, or seized with the terror of im- 
pending perdition, flashes with the fires of immortal- 
ity, and sheds a living glare as it quits its house of 
clay, and enters upon the destinies of the spirit 
world. 

" This has often been witnessed in the dying mo- 
ments of both the Christian and the sinner. There 
are but few Christian pastors who have been long de- 
voted to their work, that have not in their visits 
among the sick and dying, more than once stood by 
the bedside of those whose last moments left upon 
their minds a vivid impression of the undying nature 
of the soul."* 

O change ! 0 wondrous change! 

Burst are the prison bars ; 
Thi3 moment there so low, 
So agonized, and now 

Beyond the stars ! 

0 change ! Stupendous change ! 

There lies the soulless clod ; 
The sun eternal breaks, 
The new immortal wakes, 

Wakes with his G-od ! 



* Lee's Theology, p. 267. 



238 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE BODY AFFORDS NO PRE- 
SUMPTION THAT THE MIND PERISHES WITH IT. 

I live, move, am conscious ; what shall bar my being ? 
Where is the rude hand to rend this tissue of existence? 
Not thine, shadowy Death, what art thou but a phantom? 
Not thine, foul Corruption, what art thou but a fear ? 
For death is merely absent life, as darkness absent light; 
Not even a suspension, for the life hath sailed away. 

However clearly the Bible may teach the doctrine 
of a future state, and however loudly Nature may re- 
spond to this revelation, we have no practical ac- 
quaintance with disembodied spirits. All that we 
have known of the human soul has been in its con- 
nection with the body. All our experiences and habits 
of thought and utterance, associate the mind of man 
with the body, in relations so intimate, that it is but 
a natural, though an erroneous induction, that when 
one perishes the other must perish also. And yet a 
moment's attention to the subject, in the light of other 
physical phenomena with which we are acquainted, 
might convince us that the dissolution of the body 
does not afford even a presumption that the soul per- 
ishes with it. 

I. It is a general fact in nature that the dissolution 



WHY PERISH WITH THE BODY ? 



239 



of a compound substance, does not involve the ele- 
ments of which it is composed, in the same common 
destiny. If we burn a piece of hard coal, a portion 
"goeth downward," returning to the earth as it was, 
in the form of ashes ; while other and more volatile 
elements ascend, and are either consumed by combus- 
tion, or mingle with the atmosphere. And so of 
almost every element in nature ; let it be submitted 
to any great and radical change, and certain portions 
of it are almost sure to elude our grasp and escape. 

Let a man be placed upon an insulating stool, and 
charged with electricity till every hair of his head 
stands erect. Could he be reduced to ashes, or got 
into a coffin without the escape of the electricity ? 
We might handle him with the greatest care, and with 
gloves made of non-conducting substances, and yet it 
would escape ; if in no other way the very atmosphere 
would gradually remove it. 

Have we not, then, in these facts, an analogy in the 
natural world — one that might at least guard us 
against the conclusion that the dissolution of the hu- 
man body, necessarily involved the entire man in a 
common destiny and ruin ? 

If there is an element in nature with which the 
human body may be charged, which will inevitably 
escape unimpaired, though the body be destroyed, 
may there not also be an ethereal principle in man, 
which thinks and reasons and hopes and fears, and 
which will escape uninjured though the body be dis- 
solved ? 

II. Every person is conscious of his personal and 
intellectual identity, from childhood to old age, no 
matter what changes may have taken place in the body. 



240 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



1. How great the change in the size and form 
and appearance of every human body, from child- 
hood to maturity. A few years, even, will often 
so change and disguise a person that their most inti- 
mate friends can scarcely recognize them. 

2. A man may lose both arms, and both legs, and 
yet he is conscious of being the same thinking spir- 
itual being that he was before. 

3. It is said to be a well-established fact in human 
physiology, that the body is completely changed, so 
that every person has an entirely new body, so far as 
the matter of which it is composed is concerned, every 
seven years. Take, then, for example, a person 
eighty years of age ; upon the supposition just stated ; 
the substance of his body has been changed no less 
than ten times since he was ten years old. And, 
yet though he has had ten new bodies during the pre- 
vious seventy years, he is conscious that so far as the 
mind is concerned, he is the same identical person who 
saw and heard and laughed and wept seventy years 
before. 

66 The identity of the organization is preserved only 
as the identity of a watch is preserved, which when 
seventy years old, has had every wheel and part sup- 
plied with new ones ten times. All the wheels have 
been used up and supplied ten times, but it is the 
same watch." 

" This may be seen by the unlettered reader who 
has never studied physiology. He knows that he 
must take food every day to supply the perpetual 
waste of his system — that what he eats forms blood, 
and flesh, and bones. This could not be necessary, 
were there not a perpetual waste. This is further 



WHY PERISH WITH THE BODY? 



241 



proved from the fact that the moment we cease to re- 
ceive a sufficient degree of nutriment, the body be- 
gins to waste and become thinner, as the saying is, 
it grows poor. A person may be nearly starved to 
death, or emaciated with sickness, until reduced to 
one quarter his usual weight, and then in a few weeks 
recover, and be as full and heavy as before. Does 
the body consist of the same particles of matter now 
that it did before ? Certainly not ; the waste has 
been supplied with new matter, and yet the person is 
conscious of having preserved his identity through all 
these changes ; he is certain that he that thinks and 
feels now, is he that thought and felt before these 
changes took place. 

4. But we have no such consciousness that the body 
in which we find ourselves at three-score years, is in 
its substance the same body in which we played in 
childhood. If consciousness gives any testimony upon 
this point, her verdict will be that the outer man has 
been changing from year to year, during all our pil- 
grimage, not only in its form and magnitude, but also 
in the very elements of its being. 

How different with the mind. Instead of feeling 
that that has changed while these great changes have 
taken place with the body, we retain amid all these 
changes, a distinct consciousness of our own spiritual 
identity — that we are the same identical conscious in- 
telligence that hoped and feared in our childhood 
bodies sixty years before. f 

Now what is the legitimate inference from a fact 

* Lee on the Soul, new edition, pp. 33, 34. 

t See Moore's Power of the Soul over the Body, p. 15. Also, But- 
ler's essay on personal Identity. 
16 



24:2 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



like this, if it he not that the mind is not the bodv, 
but is distinct from it : and that however the body 
may be changed, either gradually or imperceptibly, 
or suddenly or palpably, that the mind will live on. 
retaining its personal identity, and its powers unde- 
stroyed. through all subsequent bodily mutations. 

III. Bishop Butler has thus forcibly stated the 
same general argument : 

"We have already, several times over, lost a great 
part, or perhaps the whole of our body, according to 
certain common established laws of nature : yet we 
remain the same living agents : when we shall lose as 
great a part, or the whole, by another common estab- 
lished law of nature, death, why may we not also re- 
main the same ? That the alienation has been 
gradual in one case, and in the other will be more at 
once, does not prove anything to the contrary. We 
have passed ondestroyed through those many and 
great revolutions of matter, so peculiarly appropriate 
to ourselves : why should we imagine death to be so 
fatal to us ? t 

"Nor can it be objected, that what is thus alien- 
ated or lost, is no part of our original solid body, but 
only adventitious matter : because we may lose entire 
limbs which must have contained many solid parts and 
vessels of the original body : or if this be not admit- 
ted, we have no proof that any of these solid parts 
are dissolved or alienated by death : though, by the 
way. we are very nearly related to that extraneous or 
adventitious matter, whilst it continues united to and 
distending the several parts of our solid body. But. 
after all. the relation a person bears to those parts of 
his bodv to which he is the most nearlv related, what 



WHY PERISH WITH THE BODY? 



243 



does it appear to amount to but this, that the living agent 
and those parts of the body mutually affect each other ? 
And the same thing, in kind, though not in degree, 
may be said of all foreign matter, which gives us ideas, 
and which we have any power over. From these ob- 
servations, the whole ground of the imagination is 
removed, that the dissolution of any matter is the de- 
struction of a living agent, from the interest he once 
had in such matter."* 

IV. But an objection to the argument based upon 
the conscious identity of the mind, amid bodily 
changes, has been founded upon the acknowledged 
sympathy of the mind with the body, and especially 
upon the well-known fact that in many cases an injury 
to the brain destroys consciousness. This would be 
somewhat forcible, perhaps, were it true that in every 
case where the brain was diseased or partially removed, 
the mind was impaired to the same extent. But if 
cases occur where even the brain may be seriously in- 
jured or disorganized, while the mind remains with 
all her faculties unimpaired, the objection falls to the 
ground. The instances of mental derangement in 
such cases, no more prove that the mind will perish 
when the entire brain is dissolved, than the uncon- 
sciousness of one man during sleep, proves that all 
who sleep are meanwhile unconscious. 

But it is not only true that the soul indicates her 
immortality by retaining her powers and faculties un- 
impaired, amid extensive bodily mutilations ; but even 
the brain — the especial organ of the mind — may suf- 
fer largely, as we have shown in a previous chapter, f 

* Analogy, Part I. 

f See chapter ix. page 215. 



244 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



•without deranging a thought of the indwelling and un- 
dying spirit. And so of the entire body. It is not 
the soul or any part of it, and may waste and be dis- 
solved without the extinction of that other and higher 
nature, which is spiritual, indestructible and immortal. 
As the swift-winged arrow may be speeding on its 
way, though the bow from which it is sent may be 
snapped and ruined, and as the light of the fixed 
stars might continue to shoot on through space for 
ages, though the stars themselves were suddenly an- 
nihilated, so the life of the soul will go on in the fu- 
ture forever, though the body from which it springs 
at death has crumbled back to dust. 



THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF MATTER. 245 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ARGUMENT DRAWN FROM THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF 
MATTER. 

It has generally been assumed by those who deny 
the immortality of the soul, that annihilation is even 
more natural than creation. How that may be we 
care not to inquire. Neither are we disposed to 
deny that so far as power to effect the result is con- 
cerned, God could annihilate the entire universe in a 
moment of time. But so far as we have any light 
upon the subject, instead of its being even an occa- 
sional event, it seems to be established as a law of 
^ nature, that nothing that is once launched into being 
shall ever go out of existence. 

I. Natural philosophy teaches us that of all this 
vast creation no substance has yet been found, how- 
ever subtle or refined, which man has power to 
annihilate, or put utterly out of being. It may be a 
hailstone or a drop of water, and we may freeze it, 
or heat it to steam, or decompose it into its elemen- 
tary gases, and explode it ; or evaporate it ; but it 
still exists, every atom of it; and disperse or change 
its elements as we may, they will forever defy all 
efforts at their annihilation. And so of every sub- 
stance, solid or fluid, animal, mineral, or vegetable, 



246 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



through the whole realm of nature. Annihilation is a 
name for what never yet occurred to matter, and 
never can. 

"A mass of atoms may be separated and changed 
from one form to another by chemical and mechani- 
cal forces, but not one of them can ever be lost ; for 
in all cases where a body is apparently destroyed, 
it can be shown experimentally that the parts are 
only separated, and can be collected again. Thus, 
when wood is burned in the fire, it appears to be 
annihilated; but if we collect the products — the 
smoke and ashes, we shall find the same quantity in 
weight that existed in the wood. In fact, we shall 
find a larger amount of matter than was originally 
contained in the wood, owing to the oxygen of the 
air which has combined with the wood in the process 
of combustion. 

"When gunpowder is exploded, the products may 
all be collected again. The same is found true in 
every case where matter changes its form or composi- 
tion. We know that the material atoms of our own 
bodies are constantly changing, but not one of them 
is ever annihilated. That atom of matter which was 
struck from its kindred particles ages since, may 
have passed through many forms, solid, liquid, and 
gaseous, perhaps through animal and vegetable bodies, 
before it entered the kernel of grain, and became a 
portion of our own system; and there are many 
changes which it will undergo there before it shall be 
cast out into the air as pure as at first, to enter other 
forms and nourish other systems. Matter is thus 
ever changing, but never destroyed."* 

* Gray's Elements of Natural Philosophy, pp. 22, 23. 

0 



THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF MATTER. 247 



Here, then, is a distinct intimation of a great law 
in nature herself, that change is not extinction of 
being; and therefore that death may not be the last 
of man. 

II. The Holy Scriptures teach the same philosophy, 
" Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing 
can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and 
God doeth it, that men should fear before him." 

u It shall be forever" — shall always exist. "Nothing 
can be put to it." A congress of archangels could 
not add a pebble to the universe. "l¥or anything 
taken from it." All the intelligent universe, God ex- 
cepted, could not annihilate a grain of sand. "And 
Grod doeth it that men should fear before him." This 
fixedness of the material creation is ordained that we, 
knowing that whatever God launches into being by 
his creative fiat, must exist forever, may understand 
our own immortal destination, and may fear to provoke 
the unending displeasure of the Almighty. 

III. Such being the fact in the material world, 
namely, that so far as we have knowledge nothing 
can be annihilated, the advocate of the lion-existence 
of souls after the change of death, reasons against the 
undeniable and stubborn fact, that all philosophy is 
against him. Every analogy of nature is a protest 
against his cold and cheerless creed. In talking of 
" annihilation," he talks of that which has never yet 
occurred even to a grain of sand; and employs a name 
which represents nothing but an imaginary nonentity.* 

* Some writer, perhaps Samuel Drew the metaphysician, coined the 
word zamiff to represent an imaginary something as yet unknown, 
which should he neither matter nor spirit. The term annihilation has 
an analogous import; as it is used to represent an imaginary event 
that never did occur and never can. 



248 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



IV. In contemplating this characteristic of the 
material world, we should not forget that it applies as 
well to the elements of which our bodies are composed, 
as to any other. 

Corruption, closely noted, is but a dissolring of the parts. 
The parts remain, and nothing lost, to build a better whole. 

The oxygen, and iron, and lime, and phosphorus 
that enter into the composition of our bodies, are to 
exist forever. Why, then, should the spirit cease to be ? 

But it may be replied that the body no longer 
exists as a body. We grant it ; but it exists as mat- 
ter, and still retains all its original attributes and 
capabilities as such, and may live again in other 
forms and under other auspices from age to age. And 
if the same be conceded in regard to the essence of 
the soul, notwithstanding failing powers and perhaps 
a seeming parenthesis of unconscious being just before 
death, we shall still have an immortality with all our 
powers as spirits unimpaired and vigorous forever. 

We have thus shown that so far as we can learn 
from all observation and experience, matter is inde- 
structible; and that it is a law of the universe that 
whatever is once launched into being shall, in one 
form or another, exist forever. 

Now if this be true of matter much more of mind. 
unless it can be shown that mind is inferior to and 
more perishable than matter. If it were granted, 
even, that the soul is a material substance, its endless 
existence would be a legitimate inference from the 
indestructibility of matter. And in proportion as the 
soul is found superior to matter, is the inference 
strengthened that she might survive, though matter 
shouldcease to exist. 



THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF MATTER. 249 



Would not the idea of the extinction of the spirit 
by any means be contrary to all the analogies of na- 
ture? 

" Can it be so ? 
Matter immortal, and shall spirit die ? 
Above the nobler shall less noble rise ? 
Shall man alone for whom all else survives, 
Xo resurrection know ? Shall man alone, 
Imperial man be sown in barren ground? 
Less privileged than the grain on which he feeds V s 

No ! The idea is not only repulsive to every in- 
stinct of our natures, but is both irrational and ab- 
surd. Shall the pyramids of Egypt resist the cor- 
roding power of time, and stand undecayed for ages, 
when the mind that designed them has long since 
ceased to exist? Even the body, though doomed to 
dissolution, will still exist, with all its capabilities of 
reconstruction and immortal vitality. Why, then, 
should its occupant and ruler cease to be? The supe- 
rior utterly perish, while the inferior survives? 

Why should this gross integument endure 
If its undying guest be lost forever ? 
Oh ! let us keep the soul embalmed and pure, 
In living virtues, that when both must sever, 
Although corruption may our frame consume, 
The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom. 



250 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SOUL IMMATERIAL AXD THEREFORE IMMORTAL. 

In the preceding chapters our inquiries have been 
exclusively confined either to the material world, or 
to the relations which the soul sustains to matter, and 
its phenomena under various material changes. "With 
a few slight exceptions no allusion has been made to 
the abstract mental and moral powers of man, as fur- 
nishing in themselves considered, a strong presump- 
tive argument that the soul is immortal. Let us now 
pass to this branch of the general argument, namely, 
to the evidences of immortality which may be drawn 
from the powers and susceptibilities of the soul herself 

I. We think it may safely be assumed at the out- 
set that, if he who made the soul at the first designed 
her to exist forever, every power and attribute of her 
being would correspond with this design. Not only 
her relations to the body, and the various phenomena 
of life and death would harmonize with the idea of 
continued existence, as shown in the previous chap- 
ters, but the effects of all influences brought to bear 
upon our spiritual natures, while in connection with 
the body, would be such only as are compatible with 
the idea of immortal existence after death. 

II. If the question of durability related to some 



SPIRIT NOT MATERIAL. 



251 



ponderous and solid substance, such as materials for 
a building, and we had no experience to guide us in 
its solution ; we should most probably proceed analyt- 
ically, to ascertain its composition ; its power of re- 
sisting heat and cold and moisture ; its relation 
to other durable substances ; and how it is affect- 
ed by the ordinary causes of dissolution. May not 
a similar process be employed in considering the 
question of the soul's immortality ? True, the soul is 
not susceptible of physical analysis like a block of 
granite; and yet so numerous and various are her 
powers, and so distinct from each other, that their 
separate contemplation is not wholly unlike the chem- 
ical analysis of a compound substance, and the deter- 
mining of its general .character by the study of its 
component elements. Let us inquire then, whether 
or not there is anything in the nature or attributes of 
the soul herself, that foreshadow her continued and 
conscious existence when the body is dissolved. 

III. In the preceding chapter we have shown that 
continued being is a law of the material universe ; 
and that consequently the soul of man will survive 
the event of death, unless it can be shown to be more 
liable to perish than the material world with which it 
is here connected. Let us now inquire whether the 
nature of the soul, as a spiritual and indissoluble es- 
sence, does not render her future non-existence even 
less probable than if she were a bar of gold, or a 
block of marble. 

If the soul is really an immaterial essence — a pure 
spirit — wholly different from the body, in which it 
dwells, does not that fact in itself greatly strengthen 
the probability that it will continue to exist after the 



252 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



body is dissolved; or, indeed, that it is in its very 
nature incapable of annihilation. But here arises the 
great question, Is the soul immaterial ? 

IV. Different writers have varied greatly in the 
prominence which they have given to this question in 
their productions. Flavel, in his " Treatise on the 
Soul of Man" scarcely alludes to it, in a volume ex- 
tending to nearly five hundred octavo pages.* Sam- 
uel Drew, the celebrated English metaphysician, makes 
it more prominent, and treats it more thoroughly and 
conclusively, in our opinion than any other writer.f 
But his style is metaphysical, and it requires the 
closest attention for an ordinary reader to understand 
and appreciate his arguments. On this account his 
book, though small in size, and eminently able, has 
never been a popular one, and his arguments are com- 
paratively unknown. Dr. Dick, in his Philosophy of a 
Future State, barely mentions the subject of the soul's 
immateriality, but dismisses it, on the ground of the 
difficulty of so stating the proofs of the fact, as to 
have them understood and appreciated by ordinary 
readers. In Bishop Clark's recent work, we have lit- 
tle or nothing upon the subject, as a distinct topic. 

It is not unlikely that the omission of this argu- 
ment by modern writers, is to some extent a sort of 
reaction, caused by the excessive prominence given to 
it by Mr. Drew, and to the fact alluded to by Dr. Dick, 
that it is not easy to adapt it to popular apprehension. 

Nevertheless, in our view it is an important element 
in this discussion ; and one upon the settlement of 
which to a great extent the whole question of the 

* London edition, 1739. 

j- Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Human Soul. 



SPIRIT NOT MATERIAL. 



253 



soul's immortality depends. In our opinion, therefore, 
the true course lies between the extremes of an ex- 
tended metaphysical discussion on the one hand, like 
that of Mr. Drew, and passing by the question in 
comparative silence.* 

In the first and second chapters of part first we have 
touched briefly upon the subject, but recur to it again 
not only on account of its intrinsic importance, 
but because it is a question belonging as well to the 
department of rational investigation, as to that of 
Scriptural proof. 

V. The superiority of mind over matter as shown 
elsewhere is witnessed on every hand. The control 
of the mind over the body ; all the products of art, 
mechanical ingenuity and skill ; and all the wonder- 
ful achievements of the human soul in the realm of 
nature, proclaim her what the Scriptures declare her 
to be, master of the material creation. Is it likely, 
then, that mind which exercises this wonderful con- 
trol is of the same nature as the forms of being over 
which it reigns ? Is it one mere animal having " do- 
minion" over all other animals ? Is it one part of 
the body ruling the other parts ? 

This very supremacy of man over the lower world, 
as read in the Scriptures, and seen everywhere in 
fact, betokens superior power and a superior nature ; 
and as he reigns by his mental and not by his physi- 
cal superiority,t his rule in this lower world implies a 

* Dr. Luther Lee has hit this medium very happily in his work on 
the Immortality of the Soul, in which he treats this point very clearly 
and ably, and yet with admirable brevity. 

f As a mere animal, and aside from its adaptation to the uses of a ra- 
tional spirit, the human body is in some respects inferior to many othei 
animals. The horse, and owl, lions, cats, &c, can see where man can- 
not. In strength, and speed, and hearing, and smelling, and endurance 



254 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



spiritual nature, by virtue of which he sways his 
scepter. 

VI. That either matter or spirit are indestructible 
in such a sense that God could not annihilate them, 
is absurd. He who created can with equal ease de- 
stroy the universe. But that he has so constituted 
both as that they will continue on despite all created 
powers, we fully believe. The soul is therefore 
naturally immortal: that is. God has endowed it with 
immortality as a pari of its very nature* It seenis 
to have been the opinion of Mr. Tupper, however, 
that but for redemption Adam and Eve would have 
been annihilated. 

" If then, as annihilated by sin. the soul was ever forfeit, 
Godhead paid the mighty price, the pledge hath been redeemed: 
He, from the waters of ObHvion raised the drowning race, 
Lifting them even to himself, the baseless Rock of Ages." f 

But we regard this as an erroneous view of the 
grounds of our immortality. Christ did not die to 
save us from annihilation, but that the immortal ex- 

and instinct, they are inconceivably his superiors. Take from man the 
single endowment of reason ; or in other words, dispossess the human 
body of its indwelling immaterial spirit, and man is of all animals per- 
haps the most helpless and dependent. 

* "Immortality," says Dr. Good, "is in every instance a special gift 
of the Creator : and so wide is the gulf that exists between the intelli- 
gence of man and that of the brute tribes, that there can be no diffi- 
culty in conceiving where the line is drawn, and the special endowment 
terminates. It is an attribute natural to the being of man, merely be- 
cause his indulgent Maker has made it so ; but there is nothing either 
in natural or revealed religion that can lead us to the same conclusion 
in respect of brutes ; and hence to speak of their natural immortality is 
altogether visionary and unphilosophical. 1 

J Proverbial Philosophy, p. 95. 

1 Book of Xature, p. 331. 



SPIRIT NOT MATERIAL. 



255 



istence before us might be one of joy and gladness, 
and not one of endless remorse and sorrow. 

But to return to the point in hand : if the soul is 
indestructible and immortal, it is so because God 
wills it, and not because of anything in the nature 
of either matter or mind, which renders annihilation 
impossible by the infinite Creator. 

The true form of the argument drawn from the 
spiritual nature of the soul, is, therefore, as we con- 
ceive, to infer immortality from the adaptation of the 
soul, as a spirit, to exist forever; and not from any 
alleged impossibility of annihilation. 

The Divine Being will not annihilate the souls of 
men, (a legitimate inference from his doings in the 
natural world,) and has made them incapable of anni- 
hilation by material agencies. We can form no con- 
ception of any method by which a pure spirit can be 
injuriously affected by material contact, or by physical 
power. 

"Material bodies can never act but when they 
bring their surfaces in contact with each other. As 
an immaterial substance has no surface, it is a con- 
tradiction to suppose that matter can ever be brought 
into contact with it: to suppose such a contact possi- 
ble, is to suppose a surface in an immaterial being, 
which at the same time is excluded by its natural im- 
materiality. Whatever has an exterior must have an 
interior; and what has both must be extended: and 
what is thus extended, cannot be immaterial. An 
immaterial substance, therefore, can have no surface, 
and that which has no surface can never be brought 
into contact with that which has ; it therefore follows 
that the soul must be inaccessible to all violence 



256 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



from matter, and that it cannot perish through its 
instrumentality." * 

The soul of man is not a thing to be dissolved, or 
melted, or frozen, or pulverized. As well attempt to 
weigh a pain, or solidify a fear ; so that if the soul 
has no power to dread beyond the realm of material 
creation, her passport to endless existence is clear, 
and immortality certain. 

VII. Even some of the elements around us may 
aid our conceptions of the powers and capabilities of 
the immortal spirit. Who can trace the footsteps of 
the magnetic currents^ either on our planet or through 
the celestial spaces? Could not light pass through a 
globe of crystal thousands of miles in diameter with- 
out obstruction ? or electricity through a globe of iron 
in an instant of time, and experience no hindrance ? 
How, then, with a spirit, which no chains can bind, 
or material prison detain. Can any one suppose 
that the angels on one side of our planet, who desire 
to visit an heir of salvation upon the other side, are 
obliged to fly around a hemisphere, soaring over con- 
tinents and seas to reach their destination? If light 
can pass through the diamond, and electricity through 
the hardest steel, cannot a celestial being take the 
shorter route of the earth's diameter, and fly through 
rocks, and floods, and internal fires, as in the open 
void of heaven? Must they turn aside whenever 
they meet a material orb in the celestial spaces? 
Do they not rather dart through them, as a sunbeam 
through a window pane, and as if matter had no ex- 
istence? 

And so of the human soul : as a spirit, can material 

* Drew on the Immortality of the Soul. 



SPIRIT NOT MATERIAL. 



257 



bonds confine her, or retard her movements? What 
retort can hold her, or alchymy dissolve her? What 
cords can bind her, or enginery crush her? What 
floods can drown or flames consume her ? What men 
or angels will become her executioners, and under- 
take the task of her annihilation? Much better 
attempt to solidify a sunbeam, or convert the light- 
ning's flash into a tangible thunderbolt. 

Spirit may control matter, but matter has no 
dominion over spirit. No axe of steel can ever 
behead her, no polished blade can ever pierce her. 

The soul secure in her existence, smiles, 
At the drawn dagger and defies its point. 
The stars may fade away. The sun himself, 
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, 
But she shall flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amid the war of elements, 
The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. 

17 



258 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XV. 

POWERS OF THE SOUL MEMORY. 

Who reads his bosom reads immortal life; 
Or Nature there, imposing on her sons, 
Has -written fables : man was made a lie. 

In the preceding chapter an argument for the soul's 
immortality was based upon her nature as a spiritual 
essence. Let us now proceed to an analysis of her 
poivers and capabilities, and see if they do not afford 
evidence in themselves that she is destined to an 
endless state of existence. 

Among the most wonderful of all our faculties is 
that of memory. It may be defined as the power of 
the soul to treasure up ideas, and to recall them at 
will, or have them recalled by association, contrast, 
&c. Of this power or faculty of the mind, the follow- 
ing may be affirmed: 

I. Under favorable circumstances memory may be 
cultivated to an almost unlimited extent. It is re- 
lated by Seneca of the Roman orator Hortensius, 
that, after sitting a whole day at a public sale, he 
gave an account, from memory, in the evening, of all 
things sold, with the prices and names of the pur- 
chasers; and this account, when compared with what 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



259 



had been taken in writing by a notary, was found to 
be exact in every particular. 

An Englishman, at a certain time, came to Frederic 
the Great of Prussia, for the express purpose of 
giving him an exhibition of his power of recollection. 
Frederic sent for Voltaire, who read to the king a 
pretty long poem which he had just finished. The 
Englishman was present, and was in such a position 
that he could hear every word of the poem ; but was 
concealed from Voltaire's notice. After the reading 
of the poem was finished, Frederic observed to the 
author that the production could not be an original 
one, as there was a foreign gentleman present who 
could recite every word of it. Voltaire listened with 
amazement to the stranger, as he repeated, word for 
word, the poem which he had been at so much pains 
in composing ; and, giving way to a momentary freak 
of passion, he tore the manuscript in pieces. A 
statement was then made to him of the circumstances 
under which the Englishman became acquainted with 
his poem, which had the effect to mitigate his anger, 
and he was very willing to do penance for the sud- 
denness of his passion by copying down the work 
from a second repetition of it by the stranger, who 
was able to go through with it as before.* 

;i An instance of remarkable power of memory 
in an Indian orator, is given in Smith's History 
of the Colony of New York. In 1689 commissioners 
from Boston, Plymouth, and Connecticut, had a 
conference with the five Indian Nations, at Albany ; 
when a Mohawk sachem, in a speech of great 
length, answered the message of the commissioners, 

* Upham's Mental Philosophy, pp. 168, 169. 



260 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



and repeated all that had been said the preceding 
day." 

" Cyrus knew the names of all the soldiers in his 
army. Lucius Scipio knew the names of the Roman 
people. Mithridates, who ruled over twenty-two 
kingdoms, delivered laws to them in as many lan- 
guages, and publicly addressed the natives of each 
kingdom in their own tongue, without an interpreter. 
Charmidas, or rather Charmeades, could name all the 
books in a great library as they stood in order. 
Bonaparte is said to have had, in many respects, a 
wonderfully-retentive memory. It is related of 
Moderata Fonte, an Italian lady and an authoress 
of note, that she could repeat verbatim, a sermon 
or discourse which she had heard but once. The same 
is related of Thomas Fuller, author of the 'Worthies 
of England/' 

" Sir Walter Scott possessed a remarkable memory, 
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, records a striking evi- 
dence of this. On a fishing excursion in the Tweed, 
the party sat down upon the bank. 6 Scott/ says the 
Ettrick Shepherd, 4 desired me to sing them my 
ballad of Gilman's cleuch. Now, be it remembered 
that this ballad had never been printed ; I had merely 
composed it by rote, and, on finishing it three years 
before, had sung it once over to Sir Walter. I be- 
gan it at his request, but at the eighth or ninth stanza 
I stuck in it, and could not get on with another 
verse; on which he began it again, and recited it 
every word from beginning to end. It being a very 
long ballad, consisting of eighty-eight stanzas, I testi- 
fied my astonishment, knowing that he had never 



tt POWER OF MEMORY. 



261 



heard it but once, and even then did not appear to be 
paying particular attention." 

" Sydney Smith had an extraordinary memory 
always ready. He could repeat pages of poetry, 
English, Latin, and French— when, where, or how he 
learned them no one of his family pretended to 
know ; but they were always ready and appropriate 
in company, when conversation turned that way. The 
memory of Grotius was so retentive that he remem- 
bered almost everything he read." 

" Professor Porson possessed a prodigious memory. 
When a boy at Eton school, he discovered the most 
astonishing powers of memory. In going up to a 
lesson one day, he was accosted by a boy in the same 
form — ' Porson, what have you got there?' ' Horace.' 
' Let me look at it.' Porson handed the book to the 
boy, who, pretending to return it, dexterously sub- 
stituted another in its place, with which Porson pro- 
ceeded. Being called on by the master, he read and 
construed Carm. I. x., very regularly. Observing 
the class to laugh, the master said, 4 Porson, you seem 
to me to be reading on one side of the page, while I 
am looking at the other; pray whose edition have 
you?' Porson hesitated. 'Let me see it,' rejoined 
the master; who, to his great surprise found it to be 
an English Ovid. Porson was ordered to go on; 
which he did easily, correctly, and promptly, to the 
end of the ode." 

"It is said that Dr. Leyden had so strong a 
memory that he could repeat correctly a long act of 
Parliament, or any similar document, after a single 
perusal. Woodfall's extraordinary power of report- 
ing the debates in the House of Commons without 



262 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



aid of written memoranda, is well known. During a 
debate he used to close his eves and lean with both 
hands upon his stick, resolutely excluding all extra- 
neous associations. The accuracy and precision of 
his reports brought his newspaper into great repute. 
He would retain a full recollection of a particular 
debate a fortnight after it had occurred, and during 
the intervention of other debates. He used to say 
that it was put by in a corner of his mind for future 
reference." * 

Pascal forgot nothing that he ever read or thought. 
Ben Jonson could recall every line which he had ever 
written. A blind Scotchman in Glasgow, who died 
a few years ago, could repeat the entire Scriptures, 
Old Testament and New. 

The Roman emperor Adrian had a memory so 
tenacious that he recollected every incident of his 
life, and knew the name of every soldier in his vast 
army. 

Dumas informs us that, when the emperor Napo- 
leon decided to abandon the invasion of England, and 
attack the emperor of Austria, it was necessary to 
confide to the chief of his staff not only the idea of 
the plan of the campaign which he meditated, but, 
likewise, to develope all the details. He dictated to 
M. Daru, off-hand, and without once stopping, those 
memorable instructions, that admirable plan of the 
campaign, which was executed precisely as he had 
fixed it, doubtless after profound meditation. In 
these instructions, the march of every day, the 
places at which the army should arrive at successive 
periods, and the place and almost the day on which 

* Man all Immortal, pp. 381-383. 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



263 



the great battle should be fought, were minutely 
specified. With these previous instructions the actual 
result corresponded."* 

"The power of a strong memory, even in its ordi- 
nary, unquickened state, is astonishing. So few 
people cultivate the memory that they are oftentimes 
incredulous of well authenticated instances of remark- 
able retentiveness." 

II. It is matter of common experience, that events 
which we had not thought of for long years, and that 
we had apparently forgotten, are often brought dis- 
tinctly to our knowledge again by some accidental 
remark or incident; so that of all that we have " for- 
gotten " as we call it, or that we are now unable to 
remember, no man can tell how soon he may be able 
to remember more or less of which his mind is now 
wholly oblivious. 

III. Distance of time, of itself, seems to have no 
unfavorable effect upon the memory. The aged re- 
member the events of their youth even more dis- 
tinctly than recent occurrences. This is no doubt 
due to the fact that the attention is more easily 
arrested and fixed in early life than in after years; 
but even if this be the case, it shows that the lapse 
of sixty or seventy years has little or no power to 
obliterate the records of memory. 

IV. Under extraordinary excitements it often hap- 
pens that memory seems to bring forth all her trea- 
sures, and to call up in review and in rapid succession, 
all the events of our past lives. Of the manifesta- 
tions of this remarkable power of the soul, a few in- 
stances may be cited. 

* Wayland's Intellectual Philosophy, p. 258. 



264 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



1. "Mr. R. of Bowland, a gentleman of landed 
property in the vale of Gala, was prosecuted for a 
very considerable sum, the accumulated arrears of 
teind, (or tithe,) for which he was said to be indebted 
to a noble family, the titulars, (lay impropriators of 
the tithes.) Mr. R. was strongly impressed with the 
belief that his father had, by a form of process pecu- 
liar to the law of Scotland, purchased these lands 
from the titular, and therefore that the present prose- 
cution was groundless. But after an industrious 
search among his father's papers, an investigation of 
the public records, and a careful inquiry among all 
persons who had transacted law-business for his father, 
no evidence could be recovered to support his defence. 
The period was now near at hand when he conceived 
the loss of his lawsuit to be inevitable, and he had 
formed his determination to ride to Edinburgh next 
day, and make the best bargain he could in the way 
of compromise. He went to bed with this resolution, 
and with all the circumstances of the case floating 
upon his mind, had a dream to the following purpose: 
His father, who had been many years dead, appeared 
to him, he thought, and asked him why he was dis- 
turbed in his mind. In dreams men are not surprised 
at such apparitions. Mr. R. thought that he informed 
his father of the cause of his distress, adding that the 
payment of a considerable sum of money was the 
more unpleasant to him, because he had a strong con- 
sciousness that it was not due, though he was unable 
to recover any evidence in support of his belief. 
6 You are right, my son/ replied the paternal shade*, 
6 1 did acquire right to those teinds, for payment of 
which you are now prosecuted. The papers relating 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



265 



to the transaction are in the hands of Mr. , a 

writer (or attorney) who is now retired from profes- 
sional business, and resides at Inveresk, near Edin- 
burgh. He was a person whom I employed on that oc- 
casion for a particular reason, but who never, on any 
other occasion, transacted business on my account. 
It is very possible," pursued the vision, ; that Mr. 

may have forgotten a matter which is now of a 

very old date ; but you may call it to his recollection 
by this token, that when I came to pay his account, 
there was difficulty in getting change for a Portugal 
piece of gold, and that we were forced to drink out 
the balance at a tavern/ 

; ' Mr. R. awoke in the morning, with all the words 
of his vision imprinted on his mind, and thought it 
worth while to ride across the country to Inveresk, 
instead of 2oing straight to Edinburgh. When he 
came there he waited on the gentleman mentioned in 
the dream, a very old man ; without saying anything 
of the vision, he inquired whether he remembered 
having conducted such a matter for his deceased father. 
The old gentleman could not at first bring the circum- 
stance to his recollection : but, on mention of the Por- 
tugal piece of gold, the whole returned upon his me- 
mory ; he made an immediate search for the papers 
and recovered them, — so that Mr. R. carried to Edin- 
burgh the documents necessary to gain the cause 
which he was on the verge of losing." 

*• There is every reason to believe that this very 
interesting case is referable to the principle lately 
mentioned ; that the gentleman had heard the circum- 
stances from his father, but had entirely forgotten 
them, until the frequent and intense application of his 



266 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



mind to the subject with which they were connected 
at length gave rise to a train of association which re- 
called them in the dream. So the same principles are 
referable to the two following anecdotes, which we 
have received as entirely authentic. 

2. " A gentleman of the law in Edinburgh had mis- 
laid an important paper, relating to some affairs on 
which a public meeting was soon to be held. He had 
been making most anxious search for it for many 
days ; but the evening of the day preceding that on 
which the meeting was to be held had arrived, without 
his being able to discover it. He went to bed under 
great anxiety and disappointment, and dreamed that 
the paper was in a box appropriated to the papers of 
a particular family, with which it was in no way con- 
nected ; it was accordingly found there in the morn- 
ing. 

3. "Another individual, connected with a public 
office, had mislaid a paper of such importance, that 
he was threatened with the loss of his situation if he 
did not produce it. After a long but unsuccessful 
search, under intense anxiety, he also dreamed of dis- 
covering the paper in a particular place, and found it 
there accordingly.* 

4. " The following," says Dr. Abercrombie, " oc- 
curred to a particular friend of mine, and may be re- 
lied upon in its most minute particulars : — 

"The gentleman was at the time connected with one 
of the principal banks in Glasgow, and was at his place 
at the teller's table, where money is paid, when a per- 
son entered demanding payment of a sum of six pounds. 
There were several people waiting, who were, in turn, 

* Abercrornbie's Intellectual Philosophy, pp. 203-7. 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



267 



entitled to be attended before him ; but he was ex- 
tremely impatient, and rather noisy ; and, being be- 
sides a remarkable stammerer, he became so annoy- 
ing, that another gentleman requested my friend to 
pay him his money and get rid of him. He did so, 
accordingly, but with an expression of impatience at 
being obliged to attend to him before his turn, and 
thought no more of the transaction. At the end of 
the year, which was eight or nine months after, the 
books of the bank could not be made to balance, 
the deficiency being exactly six pounds. Several 
days and nights had been spent in endeavoring to dis- 
cover the error, but without success ; when, at last, 
my friend returned home, much fatigued, and went 
to bed. He dreamed of being at his place in the 
bank, and the whole transaction with the stammerer, 
as now detailed, passed before him in all its particu- 
lars. He awoke under a full impression that the dream 
was to lead him to a discovery of what he was so anx- 
iously in search of; and, on examination, soon discovered 
that the sum paid to this person in the manner now 
mentioned, had been neglected to be inserted in the 
book of interests, and that it exactly accounted for 
the error in the balance/'* 

The following similar instance, is also to the same 
effect : 

5. " A gentleman who was appointed to an office 
in one of the principal banks in Edinburgh, found on 
balancing his first day's transactions, that the money 
under his charge was deficient by ten pounds. After 
many fruitless attempts to discover the cause of the 
error, he went home, not a little annoyed by the re- 

* Intellectual Philosophy, pp. 203-4. 



268 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



suit of his first experience in banking. In the night 
he dreamed that he was at his place in the bank, 
and that a gentleman who was personally known to 
"him presented a draft for ten pounds. On awak- 
ing, he recollected the dream, and also recollected 
that the gentleman who appeared in it had actually 
received ten pounds. On going to the bank, he found 
that he had neglected to enter the payment, and that 
the gentleman's order had by accident fallen among 
some pieces of paper, which had been thrown on the 
floor to be swept away."* 

6. It is a well-known fact, that to men brought 
into sudden peril, — there comes flashing in upon 
their minds all the scenes of their past life. 

"A friend of mine," says Theodore Tilton, " told 
me, a few days ago, of an accident which occurred to 
a relative of his while riding through one of the re- 
cently broken roads in West Philadelphia. His 
horse became frightened, and ran away; the rider 
feared that he would be dashed to pieces upon a pile 
of stones that lay by the side of the road; but, 
escaping without harm, he afterwards said that in 
that one solitary instance of imminent peril, there 
flashed through his mind a recollection of all past life, 
— his childhood, his youth, his early manhood, his 
business affairs, his family." f 

7. Numerous instances are on record in which per- 
sons who have been recovered from drowning have 
declared that at a certain period in the process of 
suffocation, after the lungs had become filled with 
water, the mind became indescribably clear and 

* Intellectual Philosophy, p. 204. 

f Lecture in Music Hall, Boston, June, 1860. 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



269 



active; and that the minutest events of their past 
lives arose distinctly to view, and passed rapidly be- 
fore the mind. 

"An individual of my acquaintance," says Bishop 
Clark, " was nearly drowned some years since. He 
stated that when first precipitated into the foaming 
deep, he fully realized the hopelessness of his condi- 
tion ; but almost at the very moment the recollection 
of former events and of former years came rushing 
upon the memory. Its action was intense and rapid. 
Everything was remembered with all the distinctness 
of present life. Incidents, events, acts, words — all 
started up in rapid succession, till his whole past life 
seemed to be reflected as from a mirror. His memory 
seemed to have grasped every event from very child- 
hood to middle life, and hung them up, as though 
painted on canvas, before the broad glance of the 
drowning man. Almost by a miracle he was plucked 
from the very jaws of death ; but ever after was he 
accustomed to dwell with astonishment and wonder 
upon the singular developments of his memory while 
the Hoods — compassed him about, and to declare that 
he believed it possible for the mind to recollect every- 
thing that had ever come within the range of thought 
and feeling." * 

Admiral Beaufort of the British navy had a similar 
experience under similar circumstances. " Every in- 
cident of my life," said he, "seemed to glance across 
my recollection — not in mere outline, but the whole 
picture filled up with every minute and collateral 
feature. The whole period of my existence seemed 
to be placed before me in a kind of panoramic re- 

* Treatise, p. 390. 



270 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



view, and each act of it seemed to be accompanied by 
a consciousness of right and wrong." 

Such instances might be multiplied, but it is not 
necessary. 

8. In other cases the most astonishing powers 
of memory have been exhibited under the excitement 

of disease. 

In a Catholic town in Germany, a young woman 
of four or five-and-twenty, who could neither read nor 
write, was seized with a nervous fever, during which 
she was incessantly talking Greek, Latin, and He- 
brew, with much pomp and distinctness of enuncia- 
tion. The case attracted much attention, and many 
sentences which she uttered, being taken down by 
some learned person present, were found to be cohe- 
rent and intelligible, each for itself, but with little or 
no connection with each other. Of the Hebrew only 
a small portion could be traced to the Bible ; the re- 
mainder was that form of Hebrew which is usually 
called Rabbinic. Ignorant, and simple, and harm- 
less, as this young woman was known to be, no one 
suspected any deception; and no explanation could 
for a long time be given, although inquiries were 
made for that purpose in different families where she 
had resided as a' servant. 

Through the zeal, however, and philosophical spirit 
of a young physician, all the necessary information 
was in the end obtained. The woman was of poor 
parents, and at nine years of age had been kindly 
taken to be brought up by an old Protestant minister, 
who lived at some distance. He was a very learned 
man ; being not only a great Hebraist, but acquainted 
also with Rabbinical writings, the Greek and Latin 



POWER QE MEMORY. 



271 



fathers, &c. The passages which had been taken 
down in the delirious ravings of the young woman, 
were found by the physician precisely to agree with 
passages in some books in those languages which had 
formerly belonged to him. But these facts were not 
a full explanation of the case. It appeared, on 
further inquiry, that the patriarchal Protestant had 
been in the habit for many years of walking up and 
down a passage of his house, into which the kitchen 
door opened, and to read to himself with a loud voice 
out of his favorite books. This attracted the notice of 
the poor and ignorant domestic whom he had taken 
into his family ; the passages made an impression on 
her memory; and although probably for a long time 
beyond the reach of her recollection when in health, 
they were at last vividly restored, and were uttered 
in the way above mentioned, in consequence of the 
feverish state of the physical system, particularly of 
the brain.* 

9. Abercrombie mentions the case of a poor woman, 
sick in a hospital, who, during a fever, talked in her 
sleep. The physician drew near to hear what she 
was saying, and to ascertain whether there was 
any coherency in her speech. She began to talk 
of the condition of other patients, describing with 
singular minuteness the aspects of their disease. 
The physician queried whether these remarks could 
apply to any of the patients in the hospital; but, on 
looking round at the various sick beds, he could see 
no proper application whatever. Calling some other 
physicians to examine the case, they all approached 
the bedside and listened attentively. One of the 

*Upham's Mental Philosophy, pp. 185 186. 



272 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

number remembered the face of the woman as that 
of a patient who had been in the hospital some two 
years before, sick with the same fever; and when 
the attendants were called, they also recognized her, 
and, as she murmured in her sleep, discovered that 
her remarks applied with wonderful precision to the 
sick persons in the hospital two years before. So 
that those impressions which, during her two years 
of comparative restoration to health had remained 
entirely dormant, now again the moment the hand of 
disease was laid upon her, were quickened into this 
strange life. 

From cases like these, philosophers have con- 
cluded that no impression made upon the mind is ever 
utterly lost. Such was the conclusion of Lord Bacon, 
and of others after him. 

As one has well said, "The resurrection of memory 
is a physical fact which science has proved and no 
man can gainsay. Every impression made upon the 
mind is abiding. What is written on this tablet 
endures as if it were written on tables of stone. 
There is no oblivion ! The old mythological Water 
of Lethe, into which a sad thought once dropped, was 
fabled to be drowned forever, never flowed except in 
the myth."* 

Though we may think we have utterly forgotten 
and lost a name, or an event, yet such is the constitu- 
tion of the soul, that some word or incident may call 
up the long forgotten name or event, the very next 
moment of our life. 

Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, 
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain, 

* Theodore Tilton, in the Lecture previously referred to. 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



273 



Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise ! 
Each stamps its image as the other flies. 

V. Now what is the bearing of all these facts, illus- 
trating the nature and power of the memory, upon 
the question of the soul's continued existence after 
death ? Perhaps we may better understand their im- 
port and force in the light of an illustration or two 
drawn from the physical world. 

1. A naturalist who has never seen a honey bee is 
called upon to observe its habits, and ascertain whether 
it has power to survive a northern winter, and live on 
through the summer, or must perish like the butterfly, 
by the first frosts of autumn. Watching its habits 
he observes, first, that it feeds and lives on the nectar 
and pollen gathered from flowers. In the second 
place, he observes that it is storing up both these ele- 
ments of life in a secure and warm place, carefully 
sealing up every vessel, and eating nothing there- 
from, till the frosts have killed the flowers, when it 
opens cell after cell of its stores to supply its daily 
wants. 

Now without waiting for the issue of the coming 
spring, or even for the effect of intense cold upon the 
subject of his observations, would not a thoughtful 
mind inevitably come to the conclusion that whatever 
might be the result in this particular instance, the 
Creator designed this species of insect to survive con- 
finement, cold and storm, and go forth amid the sun- 
shine of other springs, to taste the sweetness, be- 
hold the beauty and breathe the fragrance of new- 
born flowers, when the rigors of winter have passed 
away. 

2. Take another illustration : A naturalist who 
18 



274 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



has no knowledge of such an animal, is called upon 
to dissect the body of a camel, in order to ascertain its 
habits, abode, &c. Coming to the stomach, he finds 
it to consist of a central sack into which the food de- 
scends, and from which it is raised for further masti- 
cation, as is the case with the ox, goat, &c. But 
around this central stomach he finds several other 
subordinate cavities, so constructed that when filled 
their mouths are closed tightly by muscular action, or 
opened at pleasure. Moreover, he finds that some of 
these side cavities are filled with fresh water, while 
others are empty ; and that although the camel has 
taken no water for several days, there is a quantity 
of fresh water in the stomach, as if he had just been 
drinking.* 

From these facts he would infer that the fresh wa- 
ter in the main stomach was from the empty side 
stomachs — that the animal had power to unseal one 
of those reservoirs and empty its contents into the 
stomach proper whenever he was thirsty, or his food 
needed moistening — that he could drink a large sup- 
ply of water at a time, — and go a long time without 
drinking ; and was therefore adapted to and designed 
for long journeys over a desert country where water 
could seldom be obtained. Such would be the testi- 
mony of u Reason and Nature" as to the destiny of 
the species, and its capability of living amid burn- 
ing sands, where the antelope and the bison would die 

* Travelers in the deserts of Arabia are sometimes obliged to slaugh- 
ter a camel out of their caravans in order to save their own lives by the 
water found in those wonderful reservoirs. " If worst comes to the 
worst," said an old Arab, "we can sacrifice one of our camels for 
the sake of the water which Allah has provided him with a reservoir 
in hia stomach." Life in the Desert, by L. Du Couret, pp. 251-283. 



POWER OF MEMORY. 



275 



of thirst. It would in no wise invalidate the argu- 
ment to show that in this case the animal was born in 
a menagerie, and had never had occasion to store up 
water for long journeys over burning deserts. The 
use or disuse of his peculiar physical organism is an 
indifferent incident. His Creator has constructed the 
species so that they are adapted to and capable of 
such journeys, as no other animal is ; they are there- 
fore made for them ; and, as a species destined to such 
journeys. 

3. Let the same process of reasoning be applied 
to the problem of immortality. As the bee stores up 
the food on which she feeds in summer in quantities 
sufficient for the ensuing winter, so the mind trea- 
sures up in the store-house of memory the elements 
of her manifested life, and indicates unmistakably 
her power to retain and under favorable circumstances 
to reproduce every idea ever committed to her charge. 

But of what avail would be this wonderful instinct 
of the bee, if she were destined to die in autumn, and 
leave all her treasures of food untasted ? Not to 
speak irreverently would not such an anomaly be char- 
acterized as a mistake in the economy of Nature ? Is 
not that frugal instinct in itself a prophecy of con- 
tinued being in other years ? So of the faculty of 
memory — is it not also a prophecy of the continued 
being of the soul when the vicissitudes of this mortal 
life are forever past ? 

And if the physical economy of "the ship of the 
desert,'' in itself indicates both her capabilities and 
her destination, does not the faculty of memory indi- 
cate with equal clearness that the soul of man is 
adapted to the long journey of immortality, and will 



276 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



open up all her treasures of thought and of knowledge 
in the world beyond the grave. 

Then shall the soul around her call, 
The treasures that she gathered here ; 

And painted on the eternal wall, 
The past shall re-appear. 

VI- The ability of the soul to re-produce, under 
favorable circumstances, all the events, words and 
thoughts of its past experience, has led some to re- 
gard the memory of man as one of the " books" to 
be opened in the day of judgment, and from which 
all men are to be judged. Rev. xx. 12. However that 
may be, of one thing we may be assured, that in the 
life to come all the scenes of the present life will rise 
again to view on the enduring tablet of memory, to 
become a source of joy or of sorrow through all the 
years of eternity. 

Each fainter trace that memory holds, 

So darkly of departed years, 
At one broad glance the soul beholds, 

And all that was at once appears ! 

, If we add to a memory that will reproduce all the 
past ; even " every vain and idle word," a conscience 
so quickened as not only to discriminate the nicest 
shades of right and wrong, of guilt and innocency, 
but also to tear the soul with keenest sense of guilt 
and of agonizing remorse, may we not have the em- 
bodiment of " the worm that dieth not, and the fire 
that shall never be quenched?" Mark ix. 45. 

But as this question leads us beyond the range of 
our appropriate inquiry, we dismiss it to continue the 
argument for immortality based upon the powers of 
the soul herself. 



RAPIDITY OF THOUGHT. 



277 



CHAPTER XVI, 

POWERS OF THE SOUL COXTIXUED— RAPIDITY OF OUR 
MENTAL PROCESSES. 

In man the more we dive, the more we see 
Heaven's signet stamping an immortal make. 

I. Intuition is defined as "the act by which the 
mind perceives the agreement or disagreement of two 
ideas, or the truth of things, immediately, or the mo- 
ment they are presented, without the intervention of 
other ideas, or without reasoning or deduction.''* 
This may be sufficiently correct for a popular defini- 
tion, and yet we think it needs qualifying. If it had 
said "without conscious reasoning or deduction," we 

believe it would have been more strictly correct. Is 

%j 

not what we call intuition a conclusion reached by a 
process of reasoning so rapid, that we are simply un- 
conscious of it? Is not an intuition, so called, a 
conclusion or judgment, even though reached in an 
instant? and if so — is it not based upon some data or 
premises, which are the basis of the intuition ? 

We may not be able to point out the grounds of 
our intuition, in any given case, or to detect a pro- 
cess of reasoning, and yet such grounds exist, beyond 
all question, and govern our intuitions ; and whether 

* Webster. 



278 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



conscious of it or not, every intuition is a process of 
reasoning instantaneously consummated. All intui- 
tions, therefore, are specimens of the rapidity of our 
mental processes. 

II. The rapidity with which an experienced ac- 
countant will add up long columns of figures, without 
error, affords another illustration of the same power. 
How inconceivably rapid must be the mental action 
in such cases. Beginning on the right the form of 
the first figure is first noted, from which the number 
of units it represents is ascertained. This noted, the 
operator passes to the next, carrying with him a dis- 
tinct idea of the amount of the first figure. He 
passes to the second, notes its form, ascertains its 
value, adds it to the first, ascertains the amount, and 
with this new amount passes to the third figure, and 
so on to the end of the first column, and from column 
to column. A great variety of distinct acts take place 
in the mind, in regard to each figure ; and yet thousands 
of persons will acid a column of figures the height 
of an ordinary ledger page, and extending to five or 
six figures in width, in half the time it will take to 
read this paragraph. 

III. The case of Truman Henry Safford, furnishes 
an illustration in point. 

" After a very superficial attendance at a country 
school in Vermont, with an attenuated frame and 
feeble health, this boy, at the age of nine years and 
six months, produced the " Youth's Almanac for 
1846," having made all the calculations of eclipses, 
the rising and setting of the sun, &c, &c, without 
any assistance whatever; and that recently, in the 
thirteenth year of his age, and in the same unassisted 



RAPIDITY OF THOUGHT. 



279 



manner, he calculated the orbit of the telescopic 
comet of November, 1848, and with an accuracy, as I 
am informed, which is corroborated by the best 
astronomers. The interrogatories were of a very 
difficult nature, resolved mentally and according to 
the rules of science, and generally with great in- 
stantaneousness. For the purpose of testing the 
reach of his mind in computation, he was finally asked 
to "multiply in Ms head 365,365,365,365,365,365, by 
365,365,365,365,365,365. He flew round the room 
like a top, and pulled his pantaloons over the top of 
his boots, bit his hand, rolled his eyes in their sockets, 
until, in not more than one minute, said he, 133,491, 
850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225. What was 
still more wonderful, he began to multiply at the left 
hand, and to bring out the answer from left to right, 
giving first, 133,491, &c. Here, confounded above 
measure, I gave up the examination."* 

Here we have the most satisfactory proof that a 
mere boy multiplied 365,365,365,365,365,365, by 
365,365,365,365,365,365, in "not more than one 
minute," and gave the correct product! 

Now whether it were performed in a day or a 
minute, one thing is certain; and that is, that the 
numerical value of each figure must have been dis- 
tinctly comprehended, and also its increased value, 
as affected by its distance from the first figure on 
the right. Then each of the separate figures of the 
first line, must be multiplied by each of those in 
the second; and finally the result of each distinct 
multiplication must be added up, as one grand total. 

But there are eighteen distinct figures in each 

* Fame on the Soul, Instinct and Life, pp. 51, 52. 



280 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



line. To multiply the eighteen figures in the first 
line, by the first figure of the second line, will re- 
quire eighteen distinct multiplications, the product of 
which will be unlike in each distinct instance; and as 
there are eighteen distinct figures by which the first 
line is to be multiplied, there must be three hundred 
and twenty-four distinct multiplications, to say nothing 
of the effort of remembering each figure of the 
products, and their places, and of adding up the 
whole, mentally, without slate or blackboard. And 
all this in one minute ! It seems incredible, and yet 
it cannot reasonably be doubted. 

IV. Another illustration of this wonderful power 
of the soul, is found in the phenomena of dreaming. 
Events which would take whole davs or weeks are 
sometimes gone through with in our dreams in a 
few minutes. The jarring of a door, which awakens 
us by its opening, may cause us to dream of rob- 
bers, or other calamities, in the very instant of 
awaking. 

u A friend of mine," says Abercrombie, u dreamed 
that he crossed the Atlantic, and spent a fortnight 
in America. In embarking on his return, he fell 
into the sea; and, having awoke with the fright, 
discovered that he had not been asleep above ten 
minutes." 

Count Lavallette, who some years since was con- 
demned to death in France, relates a dream which 
occurred during his imprisonment as follows : "One 
night while I was asleep, the clock of the Palais de 
Justice struck twelve and awoke me. I heard the 
gate open to relieve the sentry: but fell asleep again 
immediately. In this sleep I dreamed that I was 



RAPIDITY OF THOUGHT. 



281 



standing in the Rue St. Honor£, at the corner of the 
Rue de l'Echelle. A melancholy darkness spread 
around me; all was still; nevertheless, a low and 
uncertain sound arose. All of a sudden, I per- 
ceived at the bottom of the street, and advancing 
towards me, a troop of cavalry, the men and horses, 
however, all flayed. This horrible troop continued 
passing in a rapid gallop, and casting frightful looks 
on me. Their march, I thought, continued for five 
hours ; and they were followed by an immense number 
of artillery-wagons, full of bleeding corpses, whose 
limbs still quivered ; a disgusting smell of blood and 
bitumen almost choked me. At length the iron gate 
of the prison shutting with great force, awoke me 
again. I made my repeater strike; it was no more 
than midnight; so that the horrible phantasmagoria 
had lasted no more than two or three minutes ; that is 
to say, the time necessary for relieving the sentry 
and shutting the gate. The cold was severe and 
watchword short. The next day the turnkey con- 
firmed my calculations." 

"Our dreams not unfrequently go through all the 
particulars of some long journey, or of some military 
expedition, or of a circumnavigation of the globe, 
or of other long and perilous undertakings, in a 
less number of hours than it would take weeks or 
months, or even years, actually to perform them. 
We go from land to land, and from city to city, 
and into desert places; we experience transitions 
from joy to sorrow, and from poverty to wealth; we 
are occupied in the scenes and transactions of many 
long months; and then our slumbers are scattered, 



282 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



and behold they are the doings of a fleeting cratch of 
the night." * 

V. The power of the soul to conduct her pro- 
cesses with inconceivable celerity is seen again in 
those instances of fright and of apparent drowning, 
recorded in a previous chapter, f Not only is me- 
mory true to reproduce the past, without a trace 
obliterated, but it is done in an instant. So far as 
reviewing every event of our past experience is 
concerned, so rapid is our mental action, under cir- 
cumstances adapted to call into play the power of 
the soul, that it is but the work of a moment. 
From such developments we are warranted in the 
conclusion that under favorable circumstances the 
soul of man may be capable of minutely reviewing 
the history of our globe from the dawn of time to its 
close, in a single liour ! We must not judge of the 
future even by our sublimest achievements in this 
mortal life. It doth not yet appear what we shall 
be. Oh what glory and bliss may await the right- 
eous, even in the exercise of his mental powers alone ! 
With the universe for his text book, a world taken at 
a lesson, and eternity for his school-days, who can 
anticipate the lofty goal to which he may at length 
ascend ? Though now a little lower than the angels, 
may not the period arrive in the glorious future, 
when the present attainments of seraphim and 
cherubim shall appear to God's ransomed people 
but as the rudest elements of knowledge, the mere 
alphabet of man's intellectual endowments. 

VI. Still another illustration of the rapidity of our 

^Tphani's Mental Philosophy, pp. 113, 114. 
f See e:pe:iall~ page of chapter xv. 



RAPIDITY OF THOUGHT. 



283 



mental processes, may be found in the flights of the 
imagination. Let this power be excited, and how 
marvelous the speed of thought ! 

How swift is a glance of the mind, 
Compared with the speed of its flight, 

The tempest itself lags behind, 
And the swift-winged arrows of light. 

Or as another has more strikingly depicted the 
same power of the soul, 

How swift thought travels. So the cannon's flash, 
The swift-winged lightnings, and the whirlwind's dash, 
Much slower move. Hoarse thunder's leaping sound, 
Hurled orbs careering through the void profound, 
And Time, swift charrioteer, all fly behind 
The speed of thought ! Sunlight, our servant kind, 
Along the extended void each minute flies, 
Twelve million miles to greet our waiting eyes ; 
Yet swifter thought. Yes, this winged power of soul, 
Can travel round the globe, call at each pole, 
Visit the Moon, the portals of the Sun, 
Thence step from world to world, through systems run, 
O'er fields of stars where blazing comets stray, 
To Nature's verge trace back time's traveled way, 
Six thousand years to where creation rose, 
Thence back and onward to creation's close; 
To Heaven's metropolis where seraphs burn, 
And, but one minute gone, to earth return, 
Without the least fatigue ; but ready quite, 
To stretch her wings, and take another flight.* 

Such is the celerity with which the soul is capable 
of carrying on her various processes of remembering 
and reasoning and imagination. How wonderful, 
then, how subtle and ethereal must be that mysterious 
nature which is capable of such feats of activity. She 
has no inertia to be overcome by mechanical force ; no 
liability to burst asunder like a Sheffield grind-stone, 

* Triumph of Truth, by Rev. Charles Gilei. 



284 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



from her too rapid revolutions ; and no tendency to 
spontaneous combustion from excessive friction. 

Though she act with the speed of lightning, there 
is no material manifestation, no friction, no noise. 
Though she outstrips the sunbeams in the race, her 
form shall cast no shadow as she passes, nor jostle a 
dew-drop from the morning flowers. All this she can 
do because she is a spirit. Were she of earth, she 
must needs move like earthly things, and like them, 
might perish at last ; but spurning the dull tedious- 
ness of inert matter, she acts like a celestial being, 
and thus proclaims, both her title to and her fitness 
for an immortal state of existence. 



HER VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 



285 



CHAPTER XVII. 

POWERS OF THE SOUL CONTINUED — CAPABILITIES OF 
IMPROVEMENT, AND VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Continuing our analysis of the powers and sus- 
ceptibilities of the soul, let us now look at her capa- 
city for improvement, as compared with the lower 
animals, and as in some measure attested by her 
achievements even during this brief and inauspicious 
life. 

I. That reason and instinct are not identical, we 
shall not pause to argue at length. When we see the 
lower tribes endowed with instinct to select their food ; 
swim if thrown into the water ; hide upon the ap- 
proach of danger, &c, from the day of birth, — to mi- 
grate with unerrring precision, both as to the time and 
the direction, and a thousand other things for which 
man has no corresponding instinct, it is obvious that 
the Creator gave instinct to be the guide of the lower 
animals, leaving man to be governed by the higher 
endowment of reason. Hence man has but a single 
instinct, and that is to draw his food from his mother's 
breast ; and even that is supplanted by reason before 
six months have elapsed. On the other hand the 
birds of the air, the quadrupeds, the insect tribes, 
and even the fish of the sea, are all richly endowed 



286 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



with various instincts, which continue through life, 
but have scarce a semblance of reason. 

II. But though the endowment of instinct usually 
remains during the life of its possessor, there is no im- 
provement. The beaver builds his dam and his house 
during the last year of his life, precisely as he did 
the first ; and those of this generation precisely like 
those of a thousand generations past. So of the 
bee ; she builds her honey-comb to-day, precisely as 
in the days of Samson or of David, three thousand 
years ago. And so on through all the animal tribes. 
There is no progress ; no invention, no improvement 
upon the past, no building upon the acquisitions of 
preceding generations. Though some of them may 
live for a century, they reach their zenith of know- 
ledge in a few short years, at longest, and can go no 
further. 

A horse becomes accustomed to his stable ; — it takes 
fire, but it is impossible to remove him except by de- 
ception or force ; and even when fairly out, if left 
free to follow his instincts he will rush back into the 
flames and perish. And yet he is one of the most 
sagacious of animals. But capable as he may be of 
improvement in minor things, probably a century of 
training would fail to give him reason enough not to 
rush into the jaws of certain death, merely because he 
has been in the habit of being fed and of resting in 
a building now wrapped in flames. Such is the qual- 
ity of the " reason" which materialism insists upon 
according to the brute creation. 

III. From these undeniable facts, look now at the 
progressive character of reason. Step by step and 
link by link, the soul moves onward and upward from 



HER VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 



2*7 



one principle to another, and from premises to remote 
conclusions, till she plants herself above the stars. 
So far as we know, there is no limit to her capacity 
for storing up knowledge. Failing bodily powers 
may arrest her progress and obscure her light for a 
time, but this argues nothing against continued vigor 
in the intermediate state nor when the soul shall come 
to dwell in her resurrection body. Even in this life, 
both the field of investigation and the capacity of im- 
provement may be regarded as unlimited. 

Were man to live coeval with the sun, 
The patriarch pupil would be learning still, 
Yet, dying, leave his lesson half unlearned. 

With all the disabilities under which the mind of 
man exists in our present fallen state, the capability 
of endless progress in knowledge is as apparent as 
the ability to acquire knowledge at all. In this 
we discover the broad line of demarkation which dis- 
tinguishes man from the beast that perishes. 

IV. In further illustration of the capacity of man 
for acquiring knowledge, look at his actual achieve- 
ments in the various fields of human research. Take 
the sciences, for example. Here is one man, who 
like Solomon, knew every plant, and shrub, and 
flower, and tree, from the cedar of Lebanon, to the 
hyssop upon the wall, 1 Kings iv. 33. He can tell 
you of the structure, and habits, and abode of each, 
whether in the valleys or on the hills, on the land or 
in the depths of the sea. Another makes geology 
his study, and can tell you the origin, and age, and 
peculiarities of every rock, and gem, and mineral, 
and fossil in all the earth. It is his delight to 
dwell amid "the chief things of the ancient moun- 



288 THE ^IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



tains, and the precious things of the lasting hills.' ' 
Deut. xxxiii. 13. Another is equally familiar with 
the geography of every part of the globe, its conti- 
nents and oceans, rivers and mountains, climate and 
productions. And so of optics and magnetism, pneu- 
matics and chemistry, natural history and astronomy, 
mathematics and languages, mental philosophy and 
logic, rhetoric and history, physiology and medicine, 
law and theology, architecture, navigation, mechanics, 
invention, poetry, sculpture, and painting; and a 
thousand other minor departments of knowledge and 
skill which we cannot enumerate. 

And how wonderful the elevation to which man has 
attained in each of these departments. 

Earth's disembowePd ! measured are the skies ! 
Stars are detected in their deep recess ! 
Creation widens ! Vanquished Nature yields ! 
Her secrets are extorted ! Art prevails ! 
What monuments of genius, spirit, power ! 

The astronomer will predict a transit or an eclipse 
to a minute a thousand years to come, and tell you 
precisely where it will or will not be visible on 
the earth's surface, and its precise extent and dura- 
tion. So familiar is he with the mechanism of the 
heavens, and with "the geometry of God." The 
chemist will separate the gold from the silver, though 
thoroughly fused and blended together ; or detect the 
smallest quantity of arsenic, though scattered through 
the whole human body. The physiologist knows 
every bone, and muscle, and artery, and vein, and 
nerve, and gland, and organ, from the crown of the 
head to the sole of the foot, with their proper offices, 
and functions, and perhaps the symptoms of every 



HER VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 



289 



disease, and the effect of every remedy. And thus 
on through every department of human research. 

No matter what speciality we single out, the amount 
that is already known by man in that single depart- 
ment is almost overwhelming to our contemplations. 
Think of all that is known of language, of history, of 
mathematics, of architecture, and of the mechanical 
arts. Look at the immense libraries, embracing 
scores of volumes in each branch of study. Look at 
the collections of minerals, and shells, and birds, and 
quadrupeds, and reptiles, and fishes, and insects 
gathered by man, to aid him in his investigations. 
There are enough objects of scientific interest in the 
Smithsonian Institute in Washington, or in the 
Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, to be- 
wilder and almost overwhelm an ordinary observer. 
Go to the Patent Office in Washington and look at 
the fifty thousand models, more or less, deposited 
there by inventors. Think of the research and mental 
power of w r hich each model is an embodiment. 

In a word the height of knowledge to which man 
has attained in each department of skill and of know- 
ledge is almost overwhelming to the common under- 
standing. And yet, judging from the achievements 
of the last half century, our progress even in this 
world is but just begun. Look at the advance in the 
use of steam since Robert Fulton launched his first 
steam boat. So of the daguerreotype, of telegraphing, 
of printing, and stereotyping, and a thousand other 
branches of human industry. 

Whose footsteps these ? — Immortals have been here,. 
Could less than souls immortal this have done ? 
Earth's covered o'er with proofs of souls immortal, 
And proofs of Immortality forget. 

19 



290 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



But we must forbear. The mind grows weary- 
under the contemplation of even the briefest outline 
of the accomplished attainments of the human soul. 

V. But it is not necessary to embrace all this in 
order to secure a foundation for the inference that 
the soul of man is immortal. The capability of un- 
limited progress is seen in the development of the 
mind in each particular case, without this overwhelm- 
ing survey of the already hoarded treasures of the 
immortal spirit. The locomotive that comes thunder- 
ing along the valleys, and burrowing through the 
hills with its thousands of passengers, or its hundreds 
of tons of merchandise, ascending the steep grade like 
a Titan, and scorning fatigue, and yet manageable as 
an infant, proclaims by every shout that it sends out 
on the air, reverberating along the hills, "my builder 
is immortal!" And such is the voice of every cotton 
factory, every cathedral, every steamer, every sus- 
pension bridge, every iron-clad war ship, every steam 
printing-press, every sewing or knitting-machine, 
every chronometer, or mariner's compass, diving-bell, 
or balloon. 

The works of man are the witnesses of his capacity 
for improvement, the living monument attesting his 
adaptation to another state of existence. 

VI. Should it be replied that although the amount 
of knowledge acquired by man is almost inconceivably 
vast, no one mind has comprehended it all — that it 
has been gathered by different persons, in different 
lands and ages, by each pursuing a speciality; we 
admit the fact, but deny that it vitiates the argu- 
ment. Why does the linguist, for instance, devote 
his life to the study of language? Is it because he is 



HER VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 



291 



incapable of learning history, or science, or law, or 
medicine? By no means; but because this life is too 
short to allow him to explore the whole field. Like 
a poor student, who can afford but a single term at 
an academy, and who, wishing to turn his opportuni- 
ties to the best account, selects writing and book- 
keeping as his studies, and devotes all his time and 
energies to them; so with man here. His student 
life is too short for him to pursue the entire course 
which the Creator has placed before him. He must 
choose his speciality and pursue it, turn his attain- 
ments to the best account during this short life, and 
await the developments of the world to come. 

It is not, then, a want of capacity that restricts him, 
but a want of time. How often have individuals been 
found who were equally at home in several vast fields 
of learning. And suppose vigor, and life, and oppor- 
tunities were extended for centuries, who can say 
that the soul of one man is not fully competent to 
acquire all the knowledge within the reach of man- 
kind? That the human soul is capable of this there 
can be no doubt. With the universe for our text-book, 
and eternity for our school-days, well may the apostle 
say, "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." 

VII. Let us now apply these facts, illustrative of 
the powers of the soul, to the question of her con- 
tinued existence after death. Have they such scope 
in this brief life, as to justify their bestowment by an 
all-wise Creator ? Would a kind parent send his son 
to toil over Greek, and Latin, and mathematics, who 
knew that he must die before he could graduate? 
And is not the Deity equally economical in the be- 
stowment of powers and opportunities? If so, the 



292 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



very capacity of the human soul for endless improve- 
ment, is both a token and a pledge that her way shall 
be onward, and that she is destined to another and an 
endless state of existence. 

Say, can a soul possessed 

Of such extensive, deep, tremendous powers, 

Enlarging still, be but a finer breath, 

Of spirits dancing through their tubes, 

And then forever lost in vacant air ? 

"When I consider/' says Cicero, " the wonderful 
activity of the mind, so great a memory of what is 
past, and such a capacity of penetrating into the 
future; when I behold such a number of arts and 
sciences, and such a multitude of discoveries thence 
arising; I believe, and am firmly persuaded, that a 
nature which contains so many things within itself 
cannot be mortal."* 

The progressive character of reason, and the capa- 
bility of the soul for unlimited improvement, con- 
stitute a natural argument for immortality that might 
well impress the mind of a heathen philosopher. 
And if it was of weight then, when science and the 
arts were but in their infancy, how is it now, when 
the achievements of the human mind are augmented 
an hundred fold ? And yet our education is but just 
begun. We see but through a glass darkly, and know 
but in part. We have capacity for limitless improve- 
ment, but lack time and opportunity for full develop- 
ment. Shall, then these latent powers slumber un- 
improved forever ? Are not the tiny unspread wings 
of the chrysalis a sure omen and pledge of its 
destination to flit from field to field and from flower 

* De Senectute. Cap. 21. 



HER VAST ACHIEVEMENTS. 



293 



to flower, as the gorgeous butterfly?* So of the 
powers of the soul, as yet undeveloped in this life. 

Nor are our powers to perish immature ; 

But after feeble effort here, beneath 

A brighter sun, and in a nobler soil, 

Transplanted from this sublunary bed, 

Shall nourish fair, and put forth all their bloom. 

* " The worm that crawls upon the ground and prepares its own 
grave in which to wait for its coming transformation, yet bears on its 
unsightly form those very prominences which mark the places of gold 
and silver spangles on the wings of the released and soaring insect." 



294 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

IMMORTALITY INFERABLE FROM THE NATURE OF OUR 
DESIRES. 

Our heads, our hearts, our passions, and our powers, 
Speak the same language, call us to the skies. 

In the last three chapters we have spoken some- 
what at length of the powers of the soul, as furnishing 
a natural argument for immortality. Let us now 
turn from this survey of our intellectual energies, to 
the contemplation of our desires. 

1. The thirst for knowledge which is so common to 
man, and which is exhibited in the natural curiosity 
of all men, as well as in the toils and achievements 
of the student, is incapable of satisfactory explana- 
tion, except upon the hypothesis of a future state of 
existence. 

How true is it, that "the eye is not satisfied with 
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.' ' Prov. i. 8. 
No matter how much knowledge one has acquired, he 
still thirsts and toils for more, till failing bodily 
powers arrest his upward progress, and terminate his 
earthly being in the midst of the race, his soul more 
conscious of its powers and capabilities, than ever be- 
fore, and more eager to reach a higher goal, than at 
the beginning of its journey. 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES. 



295 



"I know not/' said Sir Isaac Newton, "what I 
may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to 
have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, 
and diverting myself in now and then finding a 
smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, 
whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered 
before me. And yet, these ' smoother pebbles,'' 
which he had found, were the laws of gravitation 
which hold the stars in their serene courses, standing 
as pillars of adamant underneath them; these "pret- 
tier shells," were the method of Fluxions and the 
Binomial Theorem, a theory of colors established 
upon thousands of costly experiments, and laws of 
light so subtle and beautiful that their imprint upon 
science seemed to give it a new and celestial illumina- 
tion." 

"When William Herschell, dissatisfied with the 
musical profession to which he had been bred, de- 
termined to devote himself to the study of the stars, 
and to the minute investigation of their motions and 
laws, he found no telescope that could answer the 
demands of his exquisite and searching mind. He 
therefore determined to construct one for himself ; 
and after what seemed to others a marvelous labor, 
he completed a refractor five feet in length. But 
this was not sufficient ; and speedily transcending it 
he turned from the heavens, and commenced the con- 
struction of another more adequate to his enlarged 
wants, not ceasing from the effort till it was re- 
warded by the completion of an instrument seven 
feet in length, perhaps the most remarkable ' optic 
glass ' at that time possessed by any similar ob- 
server. 



296 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



" But still this could not give him all the answers 
which he sought to his nightly inquiries; so that the 
labors which had been for a little suspended were 
again renewed to construct another, now of ten feet ; 
and yet a little while later, another still, of twenty 
feet in focal length. And it was not till at last he 
had planned and built that magnificent instrument 
erected at Slough, with its tube of forty feet in 
length, slung up amid pillars, braces, and beams, like 
a very mortar of observations bombarding the skies, 
— with its speculum of almost fifty inches in super- 
ficial diameter, and with its magnifying power of 
6,500 — that he was measurably satisfied with his 
apparatus for study. 

"And even then, it is on record that this equip- 
ment did not fully meet his desires ; and that nothing 
but what seemed the insuperable difficulties of the 
work at his age, prevented the erection of a still more 
stupendous instrument, before which the new nebula 
which he had discovered should be resolved into suns, 
or be shown the misty seed-plots of worlds, and by 
whose continued micometrical measurements of the 
relations of the fixed stars, the elements of the parallax 
should at last be ascertained. 

"So always the scientific judgment of man is in- 
stinctively running forward to new attainments, and 
a more complete mastery. It treats all instruments, 
the most elaborate and complete, as the traveler upon 
the mountain treats the staff which he has cut in a 
hedge by the way-side; only using it as a helper, and 
throwing it aw T ay when the end has been gained, or 
retaining it as a memento of the course it has 
assisted. It will never pause satisfied, this faculty 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES 



297 



of the judgment, with any result accessible in time ; 
but conscious of capacities unexhausted by use, and 
superior to any defined acquirement, it "will press 
still upward till the universe shall be scrutinized, and 
then only will rest when clearly and fully it has re- 
produced by its analysis the thought of the Almighty. 

"It is very instructive and impressive to observe, 
too, how age, in the absence of physical disease, and 
of protracting pain, does not oppose or retard this 
spontaneous movement. The principle of curiosity, 
as an intellectual principle, the desire for true and 
satisfying knowledge, — and the power of the judg- 
ment to satisfy this desire, exploring and explaining 
what attracts its attention, — both grow as they are 
used, while that use is legitimate and fills God's 
plan; and they are never so strong, unless sickness 
exhausts and shatters the frame, as when the studies 
already prosecuted have been largest and most pro- 
found. To the end of his life, the student whose 
frame remains unshaken, writes on morals and his- 
tory, on science and on fine art, and his inquiries 
in all the departments of nature are marked by as 
keen and strenuous an enthusiasm as when in his 
youth he traversed the hills and the valleys on foot. 
As the skiff, which the boy builds, grows at last to 
the steamship, and the hut of the pioneer, to the 
palace which the citizen rears and adorns, — while yet 
neither of these is felt to be final with him, or 
adequate to the highest conception he can form, — 
so the thought of the child expands and accumulates 
to the science of manhood, and still is admitted in- 
sufficient. 

"In this, then, we see. unmistakablv declared, the 



298 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



capacity of the soul for still higher attainments, 
through the use of its constructive and analytic 
power examinining truth, when it passes from the 
present to a future state of being. The fact that it 
goes on still triumphing and enlarging as long as it 
here is properly used, — unexhausted by its endeavors, 
yet still unsatisfied with any result, so far as we can 
follow or trace it, — seems a promise and the pro- 
phecy, if not the proof of the fact, that if its existence 
outlasts that of the body, a yet higher mission, on a 
more noble sphere, may be hereafter given it to ac- 
complish. Having looked at the stars from beneath, 
and from afar, it may, with superior and immediate 
vision look upon them from above, when treading on 
the pavement, whose dust they are."* 

"Were a man sure," says Dr. Moore, "that he 
could not possibly possess a better than this earthly 
life, to look off from this dull cold spot would only 
be to aggravate his doom. The glory of distant 
worlds would fall like a blight upon his being, for it 
would suggest possibilities of intelligence and delight 
forever beyond his reach." f 

'Tis Immortality, 'tis that alone 

Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness, 

The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill. 

II. The desire to be remembered on earth after we 
are dead, may also be reckoned among the indices of 
our coming immortality. 

How few are willing to be forgotten when the grave 
shall cover them. 

* Graham Lectures, by Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Jr., D.D. pp. 290- 
294. 

f Power of the Soul. &c Harper's ed. ? p. 9. 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES. 



299 



For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey. 

This pleasing anxious being e'er resign' d, 
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 

Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind ? 

Men have even been known to commit deeds of in- 
famy, that their names might be perpetuated on the 
records of time. Now upon what principle is this 
fact to be accounted for, if man is not destined to 
survive the stroke of death ? Is it not in reality an 
outgrowth of the innate conviction, which despite all 
theories to the contrary, pervades the soul, that our 
being is not to end with the dissolution of the mortal 
body, and that in some way we may still have an 
interest in the living and conscious universe, and 
may wish to be remembered beyond the change of 
death? 

"Why otherwise," says Dr. Dick, "should men be 
anxious about their reputation, and solicitous to secure 
their names from oblivion, and to perpetuate their fame, 
after they have descended into the grave? To ac- 
complish such objects, and to gratify such desires, 
poets, orators, and historians, have been flattered 
and rewarded; to celebrate their actions monuments 
of marble and of brass have been erected to represent 
their persons, and inscriptions engraved in the solid 
rock, to convey to future generations a record of the 
exploits they had achieved. Lofty columns, tri- 
umphal arches, towering pyramids, magnificent tem- 
ples, palaces, and mausoleums, have been reared, to 
eternise their fame, and to make them live as it were, 
in the eyes of their successors, through all the future 
ages of time. But, if the soul be destined to de- 
struction at the hour of death, why should man be 



300 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



anxious about what shall happen, or what shall not 
happen hereafter, when he is reduced to a mere non- 
entity, and banished forever from the universe of 
God? He can have no interest in any events that 
may befall the living world when he is cancelled from 
the face of creation, and when the spark of in- 
telligence he possessed is quenched in everlasting 
night.' 1 * 

III. The almost universal discontent of man in 
this world is a prophecy of another state of ex- 
istence. 

Not only is it true of an Alexander that when the 
civilized world had been brought under his sceptre, 
he sighed and wept that he had not another world to 
conquer; t but the same principle is indigenous in 
every heart. Where do we find the person who is 
satisfied and quite contented ? Xo matter what 
wealth, or fame, or knowledge, or power, or earthly 
pleasures ; man still sighs for more. The patient ox, 
that has satisfied his appetite from the green and 
fresh pastures, seeks a couch upon the same soft 
carpet, and as he lies there ruminating, he is the 
living embodiment of satisfaction and contentment. 
Not a thought of future want disturbs his perfect 
tranquility. Not a desire of his nature remains un- 
satisfied, or is still reaching out for further gratifica- 
tion. Not so with man. From the king upon his 
throne, to the beggar upon the dunghill, all sigh for 
something beyond their present possessions and enjoy- 
ments. 

* Philosophy of a Future State. Part I.. Chap. i... Sec. 2. 

f Augustus said even of the infamous Herod the Great, that his soul 
was too great for his kingdom. Watson's Theological Dictionary, 
Article Herod. 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES. 



301 



Man, ill at ease, 
In this, not his own place, this foreign field, 
Where Nature fodders him with other food 
Than was ordained his cravings to suffice, 
Poor in abundance, famish'd at a feast, 
Sighs on for something more when most enjoyed. 

Of the fact here asserted there will be no dispute. 
What, then, is its explanation? Has the Creator 
made " the beast that perishes," to find his every desire 
gratified, while man is created with immortal longings 
that shall have no satisfactory response either in time 
or in eternity? 

Is Heaven then kinder to thy flocks than thee ? 
Not so; thy pasture richer, but remote,* 
In part remote ; for that remoter part 
Man bleats from instinct, though, perhaps, debauch'd 
By sense, his reason sleeps, nor dreams the cause. 
The cause how obvious, when his reason wakes ! 
His grief is but his grandeur in disguise, 
And discontent is immortality ! 

The leopard or tiger that paces his cave hour after 
hour, the very genius of discontent, shows, by his 
very restlessness, that he was not created for the 
menagerie, but for the far reaching jungle. So of the 
human soul in the present life. 

Man's misery declares him born for bliss ; 
His anxious heart asserts the truth I sing, 
And gives the sceptic in his head — the lie. 

IV. The nature, influence, and universal prevalence 
of hope, point unmistakably to another state of being 
beyond the grave. 

We speak not here of the hope of the Christian, 
which entereth to that within the veil, and appre- 



§02 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



hends as its object a blissful immortality; but of 
those hopes that relate to future earthly objects, and 
are ever pointing to brighter scenes and happier 
years to come. 

Hope springs eternal in the human breast; 
JIan never is, but always to be bless'd. 

Though the promised objects are seldom reached, 
and, when attained, never satisfy the promises and 
expectations of the past, yet the soul is ever ready 
to receive each new promise with implicit confidence, 
so that life is made up of a succession of eager races 
from goal to goal, till the race of probation is run, 
and the goal eternal is reached. 

Now why is this if man has but one life? Why 
this stretching out of her arms into the coming future 
at all, if the soul expires at death? Or, if she be 
constituted thus to gaze upon ideal bliss in years 
whose arrival she may never greet, why has not her 
Maker provided that at least in all such cases, the 
reality of what is enjoyed shall fully equal the brightest 
visions of hope? 

But not so. We still hope and sigh for coming 
happiness, and are incapable of throwing off faith in 
the enchanting future, or becoming wise by our re- 
peated disappointments. How strange if there is no 
future for man beyond the grave ! 

The darkest of enigmas human hope ; 
Of all the darkest, if at death we die. 

Upon that dark hypothesis nature, reason, mental 
philosophy, all fail to furnish us with a key to the 
strange anomaly. But grant a Future Life and all 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES 



303 



is clear. The race we run under the stimulus of 
this wonderful power, is but a phase of a celestial 
attraction ordained of Heaven to draw us to the skies. 
The momentum generated under its impulses, bearing 
us onward through life, from stage to stage, was de- 
signed not so much to speed each minor and earthly 
race, as to bear the soul onward toward the heavenly 
goal, and finally across the river of death to her 
native country above. And the successive disap- 
pointments of this life, that are so soon and so easily 
retrieved by a new promise and hope cast into the 
distant future, are obviously intended to teach us 
that our rest and happiness are not to be found below 
— a lesson appropriate only to beings destined to im- 
mortality. 

Thus, while on the one hand the soul is lured on 
by hope to her endless abode, she is weaned from 
earth by repeated disappointments, and taught to 
look for realization and satisfaction, not in this 
world, but rather in that beyond the tomb. Oh how 
salutary these divine lessons ! Well may an immortal 
being, after such an experience here for a time, 
and when the light of a better world has dawned 
upon his delighted vision, lift his soul to heaven and 
sing, 

Let me go, why should I tarry ? 

What has earth to bind me here ? 
What, but cares, and toils, and sorrows ? 

What, but death, and pain, and fear ? 
Let me go, for hopes most cherished, 

Blasted round me often lie, 
Oh ! I've gathered brightest flowers, 

But to see them fade and die. 



Thus hope tells us of another life, not only by 



304 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the inspiration and solace which it draws from 
the mysterious, enchanting future, but also by 
the successive demise or failure of its brightest 
earthly creations. A wise and beneficent Creator 
could never tantalize us with the hope of future 
being, had we not been predestinated to immor- 
tality. 

Shall I be left forgotten in the dust, 

When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive ? 
Shall Nature's voice, to man alone unjust, 

Bid him, though doomed to perish, hope to live? 
Is it for this fair Virtue oft must strive 

With disappointment, penury, and pain ? 
Xo ! Heaven's immortal springs shall yet arrive. 

And man's majestic beauty bloom again, 

Bright through th* eternal year of Love's triumphant reign. 

Y. The desire of immortality itself, in the soul of 
man, is both an omen and a pledge of another life 
after death. 

Look through all nature and show me if you 
can a single instance in which God has given to 
one of his sentient creatures, — quadruped, bird, fish, 
reptile, or insect — a desire for the gratification of 
which he has made full provision. "Whether it re- 
lates to abode, or appetite, or pastime, or instincts, 
the law is universal — the means for its gratification 
is the counterpart of each desire, and answers to it 
as light answers to the eye, or water to the fins of the 
inhabitants of the deep. 

"Whenever the idea is once lodged in the human 
soul that there may be an immortal life after death, 
it immediately enkindles a desire to live forever. 
Henceforth we shudder at the thought of annihi- 
lation. 



NATURE OF OUR DESIRES 



305 



4< Could you, 30 rich in rapture fear an end, 
That ghastly thought would drink up all your joy." 

Henceforth, though he may not be a Christian, 
he desires to exist forever. Even though clouds 
of doubt and uncertainty may shade his prospects 
of bliss in the life to come, the soul cries out "let me 
still exist."' Even the prospect of misery beyond 
the grave, is often more welcome to the mind and 
heart of man than the thought of r^n-existence; and 
that for the reason that while future misery to the 
unforgiven is in harmony as well with the nature 
of man as with the government of God, the future 
non-existence of the soul is opposed to both; and 
we might therefore expect to find every instinct 
and intuition and power of the soul arrayed against 
it. 

And how is this desire strengthened by a virtuous 
life. 

Guilt only makes annihilation gain. 

There is no one thought that can so effectually 
chill and petrify the devout heart, as that of non- 
existence after death. If, then, the alliances of 
virtue are with truth, and those of sin are with error, 
the doctrine of immortality must be true, and that of 
annihilation false. 

According, then, to all the analogies of the natural 
world, the existence of a strong desire in the soul 
herself 10 live on forever, is a proof and pledge that 
her Creator formed her for such destiny, and has 
provided infallibly against all failure and disappoint- 
ment. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



It must be so ; Plato, thou reasonest well ; 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 

This longing after immortality ? 
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror, 
Of falling into naught ? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ; 
'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man. 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



307 



CHAPTER XIX, 

THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN, CONSCIENCE, REMORSE. 

In considering the powers of the soul thus far, we 
have dwelt mainly upon her intellectual capabilities. 
Let us turn now for a moment to the contemplation 
of her moral powers, and see if they do not with equal 
clearness indicate another state of existence after 
death. 

I. That mysterious principle or faculty of the soul 
called conscience, implies another life in which the soul 
may be held accountable for her doings in the present 
world. 

Conscience has been defined as "the faculty, power, 
or principle within us, which decides on the lawful- 
ness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, 
and instantly approves or condemns them."* Others 
call it the moral sense, merely. It seems to include 
a perception of the agreement or disagreement of our 
conduct and affections with some acknowledged stand- 
ard of right and wrong, and a capability of feeling 
unhappy under the perception of our guilt. 

One of the poets has said, 

v ■ . # 

Conscience is the mirror of our souls, 
Which represents the errors of our lives, 
In their full shape. 

* Webster. 



308 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Another has described it as, 

The worm that never dies ! the " thorn within" 

That pricks and pains ! The whip and scourge of sin ! 

The voice of God in man ! which without rest, 

Does softly cry within a troubled breast. 

II. Of the power of conscience alone to make its 
guilty possessor wretched, history furnishes a great 
variety of examples. 

" While Belshazzar was carousing at an impious 
banquet with his wives and concubines and a thousand 
of his nobles, the appearance of the fingers of a man's 
hand, and of the writing on an opposite wall, threw 
him into such consternation, that his thoughts terri- 
fied him, the girdles of his loins were loosed, and his 
knees smote one against another. His terror, in such 
circumstances, cannot be supposed to have proceeded 
from a fear of man ; for he was surrounded by his 
guards and his princes, and all the delights of music, 
and of a splendid entertainment. Nor did it arise 
from the sentence of condemnation written on the 
wall ; for he was then ignorant both of the writing 
and of its meaning. But he was conscious of the 
wickedness of which he had been guilty, and of the 
sacrilegious impiety in which he was then indulging, 
and, therefore, the extraordinary appearance on the 
wall, was considered as an awful foreboding of pun- 
ishment from that Almighty and invisible Being 
whom he had offended. 

Tiberius, one of the Roman emperors, was a gloomy, 
treacherous, and cruel tyrant. The lives of his peo- 
ple became the sport of his savage disposition. Barely 
to take them away was not sufficient, if their death 
was not tormenting and atrocious. He ordered, on 



I 

CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



309 



one occasion, a general massacre of all who were de- 
tained in prison, on account of the conspiracy of Se- 
janus his minister, and heaps of carcases were piled 
up in the public places. His private vices and de- 
baucheries were also incessant, and revolting to every 
principle of decency and virtue. Yet this tyrant, 
while acting in the plenitude of his power, and 
imagining himself beyond the control of every law, 
had his mind tortured with dreadful apprehensions. 
We are informed by Tacitus, that in a letter to the 
Senate, he opened the inward wounds of his breast, 
with such words of despair as might have moved pity 
in those who were under the continual fear of his ty- 
ranny.* Neither the splendour of his situation as an 
emperor, nor the solitary retreats to which he retired, 
could shield him from the accusations of his conscience, 
but he himself was forced to confess the mental 
agonies he endured as a punishment for his crimes. 

Antiochus Epiphanes was another tyrant remark- 
able for his cruelty and impiety. He laid siege to 
the city of Jerusalem, exercised the most horrid 
cruelties upon its inhabitants, slaughtered forty thou- 
sand of them in three days, and polluted, in the most 
impious manner, the temple, and the worship of the 
Grod of Israel. Some time afterwards, when he was 
breathing out curses against the Jews for having re- 
stored their ancient worship, and threatening to de- 
stroy the whole nation, and to make Jerusalem the 
common place of sepulture to all the Jews, he was 
seized with a grievous torment in his inward parts, 
and excessive pangs of the colic, accompanied with 

* Tiberium non fortuna, non solitudines protegebant, quin tormenta 
pectoris suasque pcenas ipse fateretur, & a.-— Tacitus. 



810 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



such terrors as no remedies could assuage. " Worms 
crawled from every part of him ; his flesh fell away 
piece-meal, and the stench was so great that it became 
intolerable to the whole army ; and he thus finished 
an impious life, by a miserable death.'** During this 
disorder, says Polybius, he was troubled with a per- 
petual delirium, imagining that spectres stood con- 
tinually before him, reproaching him with his crimes. 

Similar relations are given by historians, of Herod 
who slaughtered the infants at Bethlehem, of Galerius 
Maximianus the author of the tenth persecution 
against the Christians, of the infamous Philip II. of 
Spain, and of many others whose names stand con- 
spicuous on the rolls of impiety and crime. 

It is related of Charles IX. of France, who ordered 
the horrible Bartholomew massacre, and assisted in 
this bloody tragedy, that, ever after, he had a fierce- 
ness in his looks, and a colour in his cheeks, which he 
never had before : — that he slept little and never 
sound : and waked frequently in great agonies, re- 
quiring soft music to compose him to rest ; and at 
length died of a lingering disorder, after having un- 
dergone the most exquisite torments both of body and 
mind. 

D'Aubigne informs us that Henry IV. frequently 
told, among his most intimate friends, that eight days 
after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, he saw a vast 
number of ravens perch and croak on the pavilion of 
the Louvre: that the same night Charles IX. after he 
had been two hours in bed. started up. roused his 
grooms of the chamber, and sent them out to listen to 
a great noise of groans in the air. and among others, 

* Rolling An. His. 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



311 



some furious and threatening voices, the whole re- 
sembling what was heard on the night of the massa- 
cre ; that all these various cries were so striking, so 
remarkable, and so articulate,. that Charles, believing 
that the enemies of the Montmorencies and of their 
partisans had surprised and attacked them, sent a de- 
tachment of his guards to prevent this new massacre. 
— It is scarcely necessary to add, that the intelligence 
brought from Paris proved these apprehensions to be 
groundless, and that the noises heard, must have 
been the fanciful creations of the guilty conscience of 
the king, countenanced by the vivid remembrance of 
those around him of the horrors of St. Bartholomew's 
day. 

King Richard the III. after he had murdered his 
innocent royal nephews, was so tormented in con- 
science, as Sir Thomas More reports from the gentle- 
men of his bed chamber, that he had no peace or quiet 
in himself, but always carried it as if some imminent 
danger was near him. His eyes were always whirl- 
ing about on this side, and on that side ; he wore a 
shirt of mail, and was always laying his hand upon 
his dagger, looking as furiously as if he was ready to 
strike. He had no quiet in his mind by day, nor 
could take any rest by night, but, molested with ter- 
rifying dreams, would start out of his bed, and run 
like a distracted man about the chamber.* 

This state of mind, in reference to another case, 
is admirably described, in the following lines of 
Dryden. 

" Amidst your train this unseen judge will wait, 
Examine how you came by all your state ; 

* Stow': Annals, p. 460. 



312 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



Upbraid your impious pomp, and in your ear 

Will hollow, rebel ! traitor ! murderer ! 

Your ill-got power, wan looks, and care shall bring,. 

Known but by discontent to be a king. 

Of crowds afraid, yet anxious when alone, 

You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne." 

Bessus the Pseordan being reproached with ill-nature 
for pulling down a nest of young sparrows and killing 
them, answered, that he had reason so to do, " Be- 
cause these little birds never ceased falsely to accuse 
him of the murder of his father." This parricide had 
been till then concealed and unknown; but the reveng- 
ing fury of conscience caused it to be discovered by 
himself, who was justly to suffer for it. 

That notorious skeptic and semi-atheist, Mr. Hob- 
bes, author of the " Leviathan/' had been the means 
of poisoning many young gentlemen and others with 
his wicked principles, as the Earl of Rochester con- 
fessed, with extreme compunction, on his death-bed. 
It was remarked, by those who narrowly observed his 
conduct, that k< though in a humor of bravado he 
would speak strange and unbecoming things of God ; 
yet in his study, in the dark, and in his retired 
thoughts, he trembled before him." He could not 
endure to be left alone in an empty house. He could 
not, even in his old age, bear any discourse of death, 
and seemed to cast off all thoughts of it. He could 
not bear to sleep in the dark : and if his candle hap- 
pened to go out in the night he would awake in terror 
and amazement, a plain indication, that he was un- 
able to bear the dismal reflections of his dark and 
desolate mind, and knew not how to extinguish, nor 
how to bear the light of ;i the candle of the Lord"' 
within him. He is said to have left the world, with 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



313 



great reluctance, under terrible apprehensions of a 
dark and unknown futurity. 

"Conscience, the torturer of the soul, unseen, 
Does fiercely brandish a sharp scourge within. 
Severe decrees may keep our tongues in awe, 
But to our thoughts what edict can give law ? 
Even you yourself to your own breast shall tell 
Your crimes, and your own Conscience be your Hell."* 

How conscience spoke in the souls of Joseph's 
brethren, when they found themselves in trouble in 
the land of Pharaoh. 

" And they said one to another, We are verily guilty 
concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of 
his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; 
therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reu- 
ben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, 
saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would 
not hear ! therefore, behold, also his blood is re- 
quired." Gen. xlii. 21, 22. 

How easily Herod could believe in the resurrection 
of the dead, after murdering John the Baptist. When 
he heard of the miracles of Christ, he was sure that 
John had risen again from the dead, and might soon 
appear and hold him to account for his bloody deeds. 

"And king Herod heard of him, (for his name was 
spread abroad,) and he said, That John the Baptist 
was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works 
do shew forth themselves in him." Mark vi. 14. 

Other instances nearer home, and of more recent 
date are equally striking. Take the following which 
have appeared from time to time in the public prints 
during the last few years. 

* Future State,, pp. 72-75. 



314 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Rev. Daniel Lindly, after an absence of forty 
years — more than half of the time passed as a mis- 
sionary in Africa — returned to this country, and 
recently revisited Athens, Ohio — the home of his 
childhood, the theatre of his youthful days. He 
trod again upon the old Campus, walked through the 
old college halls, stood upon the cliff — the rocky 
rostrum of college boys. He examined the old 
paths, and inquired for the companions of his youth. 
Changes had passed upon every scene, and few, 
indeed, were the associates of early life he could 
recognize there. But his name and presence were 
known, and he was asked to preach at night, and 
to give some account of his life in Africa. At the 
close of the services, a very respectable and aged 
gentleman approached, and desired him to take a 
walk. 

They passed on, and when they had reached a 
somewhat retired place, the gentleman turned and 
said: "Brother Lindly! if a man has ever done a 
wrong, has committed a sin, don't you think he should 
confess it?" 

"Why, yes," said Mr. Lindly, "if thereby he 
may glorify God ; if it will make amends to the 
party wronged, or do good to the party who sinned." 

"Well, that is just what I think. I am just in 
that predicament. I have long desired and prayed 
for an opportunity to make a confession and amend- 
ment to you. * * When we were boys together, 
fifty years ago, we were playing together. 

"You dropped a quarter of a dollar, I snatched it 
up, and put it in my pocket: I claimed it as my own 
and kept it. 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



315 



"It was, perhaps, a little mean, dirty trick, and it 
has worried and troubled me ever since." 

"Oh! it was a small matter, and I have no recol- 
lection of it," said Mr. Lindly. 

"Ah, you may call it a small matter, but it has 
been a mighty burden for me to bear. 

"I have carried it now for fifty years. I would 
not carry it for fifty more for all the gold of California. 
And suppose I had to carry it for fifty thousand years, 
or for all eternity! No, sir; it is no small matter: it 
has been growing bigger, and heavier and heavier, and 
I want to get rid of it. 

"I have no doubt you have forgotten it, but I 
could never forget it. I have not, for the last fifty 
years, heard your name mentioned, or the name of 
your father, or any of the family, but that quarter 
has come in connection. "Why, the very buttons on 
your coat— every thing that is round, represents a 
quarter. Sun, moon, and stars, are magnified and 
illuminated quarters. You need not call it a little 
sin; if it was, it has grown mightily to plague me; 
and deservedly, too." 

With this, the gentleman took from his pocket- 
book a five franc piece, worn bright and smooth, and 
said: "I wish you to take this; it belongs to you; 
it is rightfully yours, and will be no burden to you. 
And if this is not enough, I will give more." Mr. 
Lindly accepted it, and the gentleman raised him- 
self erect and drew a long breath, as a man would who 
has thrown off a heavy load. He was at last relieved. 

In February 1863, the following anonymous note, 
with its enclosure, was received at the Metropolitan 
Bank, New York. 



316 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



New York, Feb. 14, 1863. 

" Mr. J. F. Williams : Enclosed please find 
$309, the property of the Metropolitan Bank." 

Soon afterward a similar event occurred in another 
direction, as the following, cut from the New York 
Tribune of March 7, 1863, will show. 

" On Wednesday, the President received, by Adams 
& Co's. Express, a package of 'greenbacks,' amount- 
ing to $868, which sum the writer of an accompany- 
ing letter says he obtained from the Government 
dishonestly, and which he therefore returns. The 
letter is dated Brooklyn, March 2, 1863, and signed 
c Gandido Securo.'" 

On the second of February, 1864, the following 
also appeared in the columns of the same paper. 

"The sum of $70 was received at the Treasury 
Department to-day, in a letter dated Boston, which 
said it was for duty on an article, not designed for 
sale, imported some years ago. The writer says the 
compound interest and premium on gold have been 
added to the amount originally due." 

Such cases remind us of the unhappy Judas, who, 
after having betrayed his Lord and Master, was 
smitten with remorse of conscience, brought back 
the bribe for which he had committed the deed of in- 
famy, threw down the money in the temple, and 
went out and put an end to his own life. Matt, 
xxvii. 3-5. Oh how terrible the power of con- 
science to agonize and ruin the guilty and unforgiven 
soul ! 

Now it is by no means probable that, in either 
of the above recent cases the parties had the least 
fear of detection or exposure in this world. In 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



317 



this respect they were no doubt perfectly safe; and 
if not there is no proof that restitution rendered 
their detection any less probable, or, in that respect, 
relieved them from any measure of anxiety. Evi- 
dently such was not the object of any one of 
these restitutions, but rather to relieve the soul of 
her sense of guilt and remorse, — to allay the fore- 
bodings of detection and exposure in a future and 
eternal state. 

III. The following instances relate to still higher 
offences. 

"One or two years since, a citizen of Alabama 
was tried for murder, but through some techni- 
cality was acquitted. He went forth, however, with 
the »brand upon him, and wherever he wandered, 
people made room for the murderer to pass. He was 
shunned as one with the leprosy. Some weeks since, 
the man shut himself in a room with no companion 
but a barrel of whisky, and plunged into the deepest 
intoxication, drinking, it is said, a quart of the liquor 
at a draught. In this condition he lingered through 
two or three months in the most intense mental 
agony, and finally died." 

So gnaws the grief of conscience evermore, 

And in the heart it is so deeply grave, 
That they may never sleep nor rest therefor, 

Nor think one thought but on the dread they have. 

Albert W. HicJcs, the murderer, who was exe- 
cuted at Bedloe's Island, near New York, July 
13, 1860, made the following statement to the re- 
porters, as published in the New York daily papers 
at the time. 

"For years conscience has slumbered; I have not 



318 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

heard her voice at all. No deed of desperation has 
seemed to me too desperate; no crime has seemed too 
dark or bloody. My soul seemed dead to all remorse 
or dread, and fear has been a feeling which, until 
now, I have never known. 

"But in this lonely cell, away from all the ex- 
citements which have always been the support of 
my restless nature — within these solemn walls, where 
I see none but those who guard me, or those come to 
look at me, as upon some wild beast; here, where no 
sounds fall upon my ear but the footsteps of the 
keeper, as he paces with measured tread the long 
corridor outside, or harsh, discordant clank of 
heavy doors slamming, or the grating of bolts 
and the creaking of hinges — conscience, so long 
dead, has at last awakened, and now stings me 
with anguish, and fills my soul with dread and 
horror. 

"I look back upon my way of life, and see the 
path marked with blood and crime, and in the still 
midnight, if I sleep, I act the dreadful scenes anew. 
Again I imbue my hand in the red blood of my 
victims; again I rob the unsuspecting traveler, or 
violate the most sacred sanctities of life, to satisfy 
my greed of gold, or headstrong, unchecked pas- 
sions ; and if I wake, I seem to see my victims 
glaring at me through the gloom of my cell, or 
hear them shriek aloud for vengeance on my guilty 
head. 

"The past is one great horror! The future one 
dread fear. A heavy, insupportable weight is on my 
heart, and I feel as if, did I not reveal its fearful 
secrets, I should go mad. 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



319 



How awful is that hour, when conscience stings 

The hoary wretch, who on his death-bed hears, 
Deep in his soul, the thundering voice, that rings, 

In one dark, damning moment, crimes of years, 

And screaming like a vulture in his ears, 
Tells, one by one, his thoughts and deeds of shame ; 

How wild the fury of his soul careers ? 
His swart eye, flashes with intensest flame, 
And like the tortures rack the wrestling of his frame. 

" Violence done to the conscience, which is of the 
essence of sin, is a wrenching of the soul into a 
moral dislocation. It is a rupture of the bands which 
keep the moral fabric in its integrity, and from the 
consequent suffering there is no exemption. What 
matters the question of outward positive inflictions, 
when we have wrapped up within us the elements 
of unknown sorrows, from which we can no more 
escape than from our own consciousness !" * 

If, then, such is the power of conscience to make 
the guilty wretched in the present life, despite our 
blunted perceptions and the hardening influence of 
sin, what will it be when every sin shall stand forth 
clear and distinct upon the enduring pages of memory, 
and the conscience that has so long slumbered or 
been but half awake, shall be roused to the fullest ap- 
prehension of its guilt, and to the keenest possible 
sense of its endless desert! 

IV. We see that even here, notwithstanding all 
that may be done to deaden the sensibilities, and 
hush the voice of conscience in the soul of man, it has 
power to fill the mind with indescribable horrors, and 
to sting the immortal spirit with an agony that no 
language can depict. 

"Now, how are we to account for such terrors of 

*Bush on the Resurrection, p. 396, 



320 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



conscience, and awful forebodings of futurity, if there 
be no existence beyond the grave? especially when 
we consider, that many of those who have been thus 
tormented have occupied stations of rank and power, 
which raised them above the fear of punishment from 
man? If they got their schemes accomplished, their 
passions gratified, and their persons and possessions 
secured from temporal danger, why did they feel 
compunction or alarm in the prospect of futurity? for 
every mental disquietude of this description implies a 
dread of something future. They had no great reason 
to be afraid even of the Almighty himself, if his ven- 
geance do not extend beyond the present world. They 
beheld the physical and moral world moving onward 
according to certain fixed and immutable laws. They 
beheld no miracles of vengeance — no Almighty arm 
visibly hurling the thunderbolts of heaven against the 
workers of iniquity. They saw that one event hap- 
pened to all, to the righteous as well as to the wicked, 
and that death was an evil to which they behooved 
sooner or later to submit. They encountered hostile 
armies with fortitude, and beheld all the dread appa- 
ratus of war without dismay. Yet, in their secret re- 
tirements, in their fortified retreats, where no eye 
but the eye of God was upon them, and when no 
hostile incursion was apprehended, they trembled at 
a shadow, and felt a thousand disquietudes from the 
reproaches of an inward monitor which they could 
not escape. These things appear altogether inexplica- 
ble if there be no retribution beyond the grave. 

"We are, therefore, irresistibly led to the conclu- 
sion, that the voice of conscience, in such cases, is the 
voice of God declaring his abhorrence of wicked deeds 



CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE. 



321 



and the punishment which they deserve, and that his 
providence presides over the actions of moral agents, 
and gives intimations of the future destiny of those 
haughty spirits who obstinately persist in their tres- 
passes. And, consequently, as the peace and serenity 
of virtuous minds are preludes of nobler enjoyments 
in a future life, so those terrors which now assail the 
wicked may be considered as the beginnings of that 
misery and anguish which will be consummated in the 
world to come, in the case of those who add final im- 
penitence to all their other crimes."* 

* Future State, p. 76. 

21 



322 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XX. 

OUR CONTINUED LOVE FOR THE DEAD A PROOF OF IM- 
MORTALITY. 

If it be admitted that there is an all-wise and 
infinite Creator, it must also be admitted that except 
so far as we have induced discord and conflict by 
sin, all our powers and susceptibilities are in perfect * 
harmony with the circumstances of our present being, 
and with the fact or otherwise of a future state of 
existence. 

Fishes, whose home is in subterranean rivers, are 
found without eyes. As they are never wanted 
Avhere no light ever comes, though their ancestors 
once possessed them, after a few generations nature 
causes them to be closed forever. If the bird were 
never to fly, no half- formed wings would be seen, 
while yet the birdlet is confined to the narrow limits 
of its shell. 

And so of the soul of man: if she had not been 
predestinated by her Creator for another and an 
endless state, she would never have been invested 
with those wonderful powers and capabilities with 
which we find her so richly endowed, and which so 
eminently befit and adorn her as an accountable and 
immortal intelligence. 



LOVE FOR THE DEAD. 



Look for example at the fact named at the head 
of this chapter — our continued remembrance of and 
love for the dead after they have passed from our 
earthly view forever, and their bodies have crumbled 
back to dust. 

I. This passion or emotion of the soul is so com- 
mon to all ages and lands that it might almost be 
called a universal instinct of the human heart. Why 
was it that the aborigines of our own country were 
wont to send messengers of love by the wild forest 
birds, to their kindred in the spirit land ? Why do 
sorae of the heathen kneel annually at the graves 
of their dead, and whisper "I love you still?" With 
what unearthly tenderness do we still cling to those 
whom we once knew and loved in this world, but 
who have passed from our society to return no 
more. The bereft mother still loves her darling 
babe, though its lifeless form reposes in. the tomb, 
and she well knows it is but a mass of corrup- 
tion. Nor is this all. If she scrutinize that tender 
tie that connects her aching heart with the departed 
object of her love, she is conscious that it is not 
the lifeless clod to which she so fondly clings, but 
that which thought, and knew, and smiled upon her 
through the little form it cast off at death — the spirit 
babe that has soared away to heaven! Hence she 
sings even amid her tears, 

" The great Jehovah from above. 
^ An angel bright did send, 

And took my little harmless dove, 
To joys that never end/* 

And still, though assured of its unalloyed happiness 
in another life, she can never forget it or cease to love 



I 



824 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

it. From time to time I see her, looking over its 
playthings or garments long years after the body is 
dissolved in the tomb, and weeping with an affec- 
tion as fresh and ardent as on the day when she 
imprinted the farewell kiss upon its cold and marble 
brow. 

How touchingly is this continued love for the dead 
described in the following beautiful lines by Miss 
Priest : — 

" Over the river they beckon to me, 

Loved ones who've crossed to the further side ; 
The gleam of their snowy robes I see, 

But their voices are lost in the rushing tide. 
There's one with ringlets of sunny gold, 

And eyes the reflection of heaven's own blue ,• 
He crossed in the twilight gray and cold, 

And the pale mist hid him from mortal view; 
We saw not the angels that met him there, 

The gates of the city we could not see — 
Oyer the river, over the river, 

My brother stands waiting to welcome me. 

" Over the river the boatman pale, 

Carried another, the household pet ; 
Her brown curls wave in the gentle gale, 

Darling Minnie ! I see her yet. 
She crossed on her bosom her dimple hands, 

And fearlessly entered the phantom bark ; 
We felt it glide from the silver sands, 

And all our sunshine grew strangely dark ; 
We know she is safe on the further side, 

Where all the ransomed and angels be — 
Over the river, the mystic river, 

My childhood's idol ig waiting for me. 

u For none return from those quiet shores, 
Who cross with the boatman cold and pale, 
We hear the dip of their golden oars, 

And catch a glimpse of their snowy sail j 



LOVE FOR THE DEAD. 



325 



And lo, they have passed from our yearning hearts, 

They cross the stream and are lost for aye. 
We may not sunder the vail apart, 

That hides from our vision the gates of day. 
We only know that their barks no more, 

May sail with us o'er life's stormy sea ; 
Yet somewhere, I know, on the unseen shore, 

They watch, and beckon, and wait for me. 

" And I sit and think where the sunset's gold, 

Is flushing river, and hill, and shore, 
I shall one day stand by the waters cold, 

And list for the sound of the boatman's oar ; 
I shall watch for a gleam of the flapping sail, 

I shall hear the boat as it gains the strand, 
I shall pass from sight with the boatman pale, 

To the better shore of the spirit land ; 
I shall know the loved that have gone before, 

And joyfully sweet will the meeting be, 
When over the river, the peaceful river, 

The angel of death shall carry me." 

A poor helpless girl, a cripple, who was doomed 
from childhood to pain and deformity, but who, never- 
theless, felt all the warm impulses of an immortal 
nature, thus wrote and sung of " the loved and lost" 
who had gone before : 

" Our buried friends can we forget, 

Although they've passed death's gloomy river ? 
They live within our memory yet, 

And in our love must live for ever. 
And, though they've gone a while before, 

To join the ransomed hosts in heaven, 
Our hearts will love them more and more, 

Till earthly chains at last be riven. 

" I heard them bid the world adieu s 
I saw them on the rolling billow : 
Their far-off home appeared in view, 
While yet they pressed a dying pillow. 



326 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE -SOUL. 



I heard the parting pilgrim tell, 

While passing Jordan's lonely river, — 

Adieu to earth, — now all is well — 
Xow all is well with me forever. 

" Oh ! how I long to join their wing, 

And range their fields of blooming flowers : 
Come, holy watchers, come and bring 

A mourner to your blissful bowers. 
Pd speed with rapture on my way, 

Nor would I pause at Jordan's river : 
"With songs I'd enter endless day, 

And live with my loved friends forever." 

II. Of the same general significance is the interest 
we all feel in whatever relates to the departed dead, 
and especially in the fond inquiry, " shall ice know 
our friends beyond the grave t 9 *- We have no space 
for the consideration of this question here, and shall 
return to it in a future chapter ; but as a fact needing 
little proof or illustration, we barely point to it now 
as an omen of our coming immortality. It is but a phase 
of the same love that adorns the cold pale corpse with 
flowers, and builds the monument, sculptures the marble 
with words of tenderest affection, and for long years 
afterward bedews the grave with tears. 

III. Now we argue that the very existence of this 
continued love for the dead is in itself a proof of their 
continued being, and by parity of reasoning, of the 
immortality of all human spirits. If all souls perished 
at death, the infinite and all-merciful Creator would 
have so constituted us that the moment a parent or 
child or wife or husband was dead, we should cease to 
love them forever. 

Take an illustration from the history of a recent 
scientific discovery. 

For many years previous to 1845 it had been known 



LOVE FOR THE DEAD. 



327 



that the planet Uranus was subject to certain pertur- 
bations in its orbit ; which could not be accounted for 
by the attraction of the sun, and of the other plane- 
tary bodies.* From the nature and amount of these 
perturbations, Le Verrier, a French mathematician, 
demonstrates the existence of an undiscovered planet, 
and so completely did he determine its place in the 
distant heavens, that when Dr. Gralle of the Berlin 
Observatory pointed his telescope to the place desig- 
nated by Le Verrier, he not only found the new planet, 
but found it within one degree of its computed loca- 
tion ! 

Here, then, we have not only an unknown planet 
casting the spell of its attraction upon those that are 
known and seen, and producing thereby its visible ef- 
fects, but to the eye of reason these mysterious effects 
become the infallible proofs of the existence and di- 
rection of another world, hitherto undiscovered and 
unknown. f So with the human soul and its con- 
tinued love for the dead. We follow them to the 
shores of the final river, and they recede from our 

* It should be remembered, that in accordance with the Newtonian 
law of gravitation, every body in the Solar System attracts every 
other; that the attraction of each body is proportioned to its quantity 
of matter ; and that in the same body the power of attraction varies 
inversely as the square of the distance. In order, therefore, to compute 
the exact place of a planet in its orbit about the sun, it is necessary not 
merely to regard the attraction of the central body, but also to allow 
for the influence of all the other bodies of the Solar system. To com- 
pute the exact orbit which a planet will describe, subject to the attrac- 
tions of all the members of the solar system, is consequently one of the 
grandest problems of astronomy. 

f For a full and accurate account of this wonderful discovery, see 
u Recent Progress of Astronomy," by Prof. Loomis, published by the 
Harpers. 



328 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



view. No more do we listen to the music of their 
friendly voices, or behold the light of their smiling 
countenances. In all these respects they are hidden 
from our view by the vail of death, as from creation's 
memory Neptune had lain hidden from all mortal 
vision in the depths of immensity. 

The misty vail 
Of mortality blinds the eye, 
That we see not the hovering angel bands. 
On the shores of eternity. 

But though distant and invisible we feel the spell 
of their celestial attraction. Yielding thereto our 
hearts are the subjects of tender perturbations, and 
sighs and tears are the witnesses of the suscepti- 
bility of our own natures to its distant and silent 
power. 

Now in the name of reason we ask, has the Creator 
so constituted the human soul that, despite itself, it 
remembers and still loves objects that have long 
since ceased to exist ? Has this palpable effect no 
really exciting cause ? Comes this mysterious pow- 
erful attraction that draws us so sweetly towards 
the unseen country, from the empty void of nonen- 
tity ? Is not the supposition an impeachment of the 
Creator of the heart of man, a charge against him 
of trifling with our most tender and most holy affec- 
tions ? 

While, then, we follow our friends to the river of 
death, and after they have crossed wander sadly up 
and down its banks, still bound to them by the cords 
of a deathless love, every pang we feel when we real- 
ize that they are gone — every emotion of tenderness 



LOVE FOR THE DEAD. 329 

m 

that thrills our hearts with its warm immortal glow — 
every tear that we shed, or sigh that we heave — each 
and all are but so many proofs in the soul herself 
that the dead, whose memory we so fondly cherished, 
still live immortal beyond the grave. 



330 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

NATURAL EMBLEMS OF THE SOUL'S DEPARTURE AT 
DEATH. 

Among the rational evidences of a future state of 
existence, .the natural world furnishes various phe- 
nomena strikingly illustrative of the departure of the 
soul from the body in the hour of death. To a few 
of these we shall now call attention. 

I. The % bursting of the shell in which the birdlet is 
confined, when the period of incubation is over, may 
not inaptly be said to represent and illustrate the 
emancipation of the soul when our mortal existence 
shall terminate. 

Before this transition, though it had feet and eyes 
and mouth and wings, they could serve no appreci- 
able purpose, unless it should be to indicate a coming 
existence under new and more favorable auspices. 
Like the latent or but half developed powers of the 
soul in the present world, they are a silent yet cogent 
prophecy of a more glorious state of being to come. 

But at length the shell bursts and the prisoner is 
free ! One by one the powers of taste and voice and 
eye and wing are disclosed, till the once hapless 
prisoner, is seen shooting through air and light, over 
forest and hill and plain, 



NATURAL EMBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY. 331 



"Where nothing earthly bounds his sight, 

Nor shadow dims his way.* 

So of the great transition in the hour of death. It 
is but the breaking of the earthen vessel, that the soul 
may stretch her glad wings and soar beyond the 
stars. 

How fitly, then, may the Christian be represented 
as saying to his friend who is weeping over his life- 
less body, 

The soul that thou hast loved, 

Will not be there, 
It will have plumed its wings, 

And soared afar. 
Then weep not o'er my change, 

When I am free. 
When I've left my cell and gained, 

My liberty. 

II. The pine tree, fresh and green amid the snows 

* The following by Rev. Dr. Todd, though in language adapted to 
children, is a clear and attractive presentation of the same general 
idea : 

u A little Robin lay curled up, unhatched in his small blue shell. 
Dim, very dim rays of light came through the small pores of the shell. 
He thus talked with himself: "Well, I'm a very, very small fellow, and 
I am in a narrow world. I seem to have parts and things about me which 
I cannot use. There is something that seems to be a mouth, but I have 
no food for it here ; something that seems to be feet, but I cannot walk 
with them : something coiled up that seems like wings, but what can I do 
with them ? This is a narrow place, and I can't use these things, and 
I can't understand why I have them. I am told, indeed, of another 
state, where the light is brighter and stronger, and where there is room, 
and where I can use all these things ; but Oh dear ! I can't now under- 
stand these sayings !" But in a few days his shell fell off, and his eyes 
opened, and his mouth received food, and feathers covered him, and 
his wings were complete, and his feet perfect, and he could run, and 
fly, and sing, as he rose up over houses, and passed over rivers and 
high trees. He could now see and enjoy this new, this higher, this 
better state. He was made for this and not for the egg state. He now 
saw why he ha/i the things called wings, legs, and the like. 



832 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



of winter, has been used as an emblem of the life of 
man beyond death, as in the following beautiful lines 
by E. C. Riggs. The author, a young man of delicate 
health, had, within a few years, followed a noble brother 
and two affectionate sisters to that sacred retreat of 
which he speaks. 




When life's brief, changing scenes are o'er, 
And I on earth shall dwell no more, 
Then lay this mouldering form away 
Beside the dust, the hallowed clay 
Of friends and kindred loved so well, 
Who sleep within the quiet dell, 
Where rippling waters, dancing by, 
Sing soft and sweet their lullaby. 

When death unbars the door for me, 
And lets the imprisoned spirit free 
To roam through verdant fields above, 
Where all is peace and joy and love — 
Then lay my body 'neath the sod, 
By mourners' feet so often trod, 
Where brother's, sisters' dust is laid, 
Beneath the pine-tree's soothing shade. 

There lay the broken casket down ; 

'Twill useless be with jewels gone. 

Let that sweet pine an emblem be 

Of Life and Immortality ; 

And let the robins build their nest 

Among its branches, o'er my breast; 

There make their home and rear their young, 

And cheer the day with joyous song. 

And let the rootlets of that tree, 

WTiile creeping downward, twine round me ; 

And, from the dust that crumbles there, 

Drink in the food they need, and bear 

It upward to the topmost boughs, 

To give them life through winter's snows, 

And keep them green long as they wave — 

A type of life beyond the grave. 




NATURAL EMBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY. 333 



While grows the pine, and upward shoots, 

And downward sends its tender roots — 

Defiance giving to the blast, 

As through its leaves it rushes past — 

Remember, friends, the soul shall live 

In worlds on high. Then do not grieve ; 

For death is only a remove 

From earth below to heaven above. 

III. The opening flower of the water lily, as it 
reaches the surface of the lake in its upward progress, 
may illustrate the expansion of our immortal powers, 
when death is swallowed up of life. In the earlier 
stages of its growth it is but an unsightly stem and 
bulb, covered with slime and mud, and pressing its 
way slowly up from the bottom of the stagnant pool, 
through mud and decaying vegetation. There is no 
visible flower, no expansion, no beauty, no fragrance. 
At length it reaches the surface of the water, and in- 
stead of growing upward still, till it stands up above 
the water, it instinctively pauses at its surface, opens 
its calyx, lays down its overcoat upon the gentle water, 
as if to stand sentinel, and separate the world beneath 
from which it has just emerged from that above in 
which it is henceforth to dwell. Having thus reached 
a higher and purer element, it opens its spotless 
bosom, drinks in the light of heaven, lifts its anthers 
still upward toward the skies, and fills the air with its 
fragrance. 

So with the soul of man. In the present life she 
grovels in darkness and sin, and at best can move but 
slowly upward, through ignorance, decay, and death, 
towards a more auspicious region. But when at 
length she shall reach the grave, lay aside there 
the outer vestments of the flesh, and inhale the 



334 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



atmosphere of immortality, she shall develope beauty 
and fragrance as yet scarce suspected, and wear a 
regalia befitting her higher and more glorious state 
of existence. 

IV. The "seven year locust," as it is called, 
emerges from the earth at the end of its period, and 
crawls up upon the trees and shrubs, a rude, unsightly 
insect, without wings or voice, or power to eat. 
Fastening itself to a leaf or limb by the strong 
claws of its fore legs, it seems at first to fall into a 
stupor; and then bursts open on the back, from the 
head to the waist, whereupon the new insect crawls 
out, ascends to the topmost bough of the tree, 
stretches and dries its wings, sings its resurrection 
song, and at length soars from tree to tree unencum- 
bered, free and joyful.* 

V. Travelers tell us of a similar insect in Japan — 
a large beetle, which, at a certain period of its growth, 
bursts its unsightly casement, emerges from its ruins 
as an immense and gorgeous butterfly, and goes 
singing away towards the skies. f What a beautiful 
emblem of the putting off of our fleshly tabernacle at 
death, and the going forth of the glorified spirit to a 
better and an immortal life ! 

VI. The term psyche, says Dwight in his Grecian 
and Roman Mythology, signifies a butterfly, as well 
as the human soul. It is not unlikely, therefore, 

* The author has some twenty of the abandoned coffins of this curious 
insect, obtained by him at Newark, N. J., in 1859. They were found 
still hanging to the lower limbs or leaves of the trees, while their former 
occupants were perched upon the topmost boughs, beyond all danger or 
annoyance, and were filling the air with their monotonous and piercing 
melodies. 

■f Payne's Geography, Vol. i. p. 20, 



NATURAL EMBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY. 335 



that such was its original import, as pneuma originally 
signified only air or wind; and that it was chosen to 
represent the immortal spirit of man, because the 
transition of that insect from its chrysalis to its 
butterfly state, was such a striking emblem of the 
emerging of the soul from the body at the hour of death. 

Look at that curious insect in its caterpillar state. 
How active and voracious. How regular and health- 
ful its growth. But at length it seems to fall sick 
and lose its appetite. Its skin becomes wrinkled, 
like that of an old man; its coat of hair becomes thin, 
and changed in color, and it seems about to die. But 
let no one be deceived by these appearances. Its 
youth will soon be renewed like the eagles. In a few 
days the gorgeous butterfly will emerge from that un- 
couth and sickening form, like a spirit bursting from 
the body, to flaunt its gay wings in the sunbeams, 
and drink in nectar from every opening flower. 

What an exquisite emblem of the going forth of 
the soul from the body at the hour of death, to in- 
habit the regions of eternal day! 

Child of the sun ! pursue thy rapturous flight, 
Mingling with her thou liv'st in fields of light, 
And where the flowers of Paradise unfold, 
Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold. 
Then shall thy wings, rich as an evening sky, 
Expand and shut, in silent ecstacy ; — 
Yet wert thou once a worm, — a thing that crept 
On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb and slept. 
And such is man — soon from this cell of clay, 
To burst a seraph in the blaze of day. 

Speaking of this wonderful transformation, an able 
writer says : — 

"It seems like a resurrection from the tomb into a 
fresh life, with celestial destinations. It is so analo- 



336 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



gous to that which the human spirit is appointed to 
undergo, that the intellect cannot well avoid viewing 
the insect transformation as the emblem, the token, 
the natural herald and promise of our own. The 
ancients, without our Christian Revelation, thought 
so ; for one of their most pleasing imaginations, yet 
visible on some of their grave-stones, which we dig 
up, is that of a butterfly over the name or the in- 
scription whieh they record. They place the insect 
there as the representation of the Psyche — of the 
animating and surviving soul ; as the intimation 
that it will re-appear in a new form and region of 
being. It is thus analogous to the word 'resurgam' 
on our hatchments. It beautifully and picturesquely 
declares, 4 Won omnis moriar — I shall not wholly die ; 
but I hope yet to rise again.' The allusion and 
applicability are so striking that I cannot but be- 
lieve that one of the great purposes of the Deity in 
creating his insect kingdom was to excite this senti- 
ment in the huma$ heart; and to raise by it the con- 
templative mind to look forward to a possible revival 
from the tomb, as the butterfly from its sepulchral 
chrysalis." * 

"The transmutations," says Chalmers, " which take 
place in the state of other animals, as birds and in- 
sects, and yet with the subsistence of the living prin- 
ciple in each of the stages ; warrant the conclusion, 
not that the soul must, but that the soul may survive 
the entire dissolution of that material frame-work 
wherewith it is now encompassed." f 

* Professor Bush. 

f Chalmers* Lectures on Butler's Analogy, Lecture I., Part I., Sec- 
tion 2. 



NATURAL EMBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY. 337 



"Like the insect, the human personality has three 
states, and changes, and forms of being, but continues 
indestructible through all. It emerges from its ovum 
into the figure and life of the present fleshly body ; it 
rests in its earthly grave, unextinguished, though 
^ visible to mortal eye no longer; and it will emerge 
from that at its appointed time into its ethereal nature 
and immortalized capacities; always the same self in 
each transmutation ; never dying or dissolving with 
its material investment; but surviving, to bloom in 
everlasting youth amid the most exquisite felicity — 
the spiritualized butterfly, with angel wings perhaps, 
and an imperishable vitality. " * 

We cite this extract as containing several beautiful 
ideas, and, on the whole, pertinent to our theme, but 
there is one point upon which we wish, in passing, to 
indicate our dissent; and that is, where the writer 
speaks of the "human personality " as resting in the 
grave unextinguished, to emerge therefrom at the 
resurrection. He seems here to imagine that the soul 
sleeps in the grave till the body is raised; and yet so 
contrary is this idea? to what he had before said of the 
" psyche — the animating and surviving soul," that we 
rather attribute it to the confounding of the two ideas 
of the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection 
of the body, for the time being, in the mind of the 
writer ; and to an overweening desire for the moment 
to make the analogy between the case of man and the 
butterfly as complete as possible. He had no idea 
after all of the sleep of the soul in the grave from 
death to the general resurrection. 

We have thus seen that various facts and phe- 

* Turner's Sacred History of the World, p. 354. 

22 



338 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



nomena in the natural world are strikingly adapted 
to shadow forth and illustrate the change of death, 
and the survivency of the spirit when the body dies. 
That such was the design of these arrangements on 
the part of the Creator, it might be too much to affirm ; 
and yet what Christian can doubt that they were so 
intended? Who but man can become the observer 
and the student of these phenomena? And to what 
can he apply them if not to the problem of immor- 
tality ? 

Man is not all of earth ; 
The glowing brightness of bright Fancy's fires, — 
The boundlessness of all his soul's desires, — 

Prove him of heavenly birth. 

Look on his glorious face ! 
There the quick play of varied passions see ! 
Look on that brow of thought ! Must it not be 

A spirit's dwelling-place ? 

Behold that changing eye ! 
Does not that glance of tenderness and love, 
That love of high resolve, or pity, prove 

Something that will not die ? 

The grave can claim no part, 
Save that on which there falleth our sad tears ; 
Clay cannot cover all those hopes and fears 

Which swell each throbbing heart. 

Would God a palace rear 
For a frail being with no nobler life 
Than that which closes with the dying strife ? 

A life that endeth here ? 

Ah, no ? the tenant must 
More glorious than its glorious mansion be ; 
Whose dome and columns soon, alas ! we see 

All crumbling into dust. 



NATURAL EMBLEMS OF IMMORTALITY. 



Bust may to dust return, 
Ashes to kindred ashes fall again ; 
But thought dies not : of all the mind's bright train 

None find a funeral urn. 

Then, though thine eye grow dim, 
And sluggish flow the current of thy blood, 
Look up, 0 man ! in steadfast faith, to God \ 

For thou shalt go to him. 



340 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT AND PRACTICAL CON- 
CLUSIONS. 

We have now gone over the entire ground of the 
argument, noticing the principal evidences, natural 
and revealed, of the soul's immortality. Let us now 
recapitulate the various points established and consid- 
erations urged, and notice the bearing of the general 
doctrine upon several other minor questions in which 
we all have or should have a deep and abiding in- 
terest. 

In the first ten chapters, devoted to the develop- 
ment of the Scripture doctrine of immortality, we have 
shown that matter and spirit are distinct essences — 
that man is a two-fold being, consisting of a spirit 
in a body — that souls are propagated and not im- 
mediately created — that as the life of Adam began 
with the union of the spirit with his body, so death is 
a separation of these two natures of man — that souls 
do not become extinct at death, or sleep in the grave 
with the body till the resurrection, but have a sepa- 
rate and conscious existence from death to the resur- 
rection morning — that they do not at once enter upon 
their final abode, but remain in Eades, " Paradise," or 
"the intermediate state," till their bodies are raised 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 



341 



in the last day— that immortal existence is not a re- 
sult of redemption, hinging upon our faith in Christ; 
and that the supposed annihilation of the wicked at 
the day of judgment is both unscriptural and absurd. 

In the last twenty-one chapters, Part Second, de- 
voted to the Rational Evidences of a Future Life, 
we have explained the character and value of the 
Rational Argument ; have cited various indications of 
another life in the structure and phenomena of the 
natural world ; and have corroborated the infallible 
teaching of the Divine Oracles, by arguments drawn 
from the general belief of mankind — the relation of 
man to the lower animals — the exquisite structure of 
the human body—the dominion of the soul over the 
body — the unequal development of the mind and 
body — the energy of the soul in cases where physical 
organs are wanting — the completeness of our mental 
powers under bodily mutilations — the phenomena of 
reverie, sleep, dreaming and catalepsy ; and the vigor 
and activity of the soul in the hour of death. We 
have also shown from natural analogies that the dis- 
solution of the human body affords no ground for the 
presumption that the mind perishes with it; and have 
sustained the teachings of the Bible by arguments 
drawn from the indestructibility of matter, — the im- 
materiality of the soul, and her powers of memory, — 
the rapidity of her mental process — her capabilities 
of improvement, and her vast achievements in know- 
ledge and skill, the desire for posthumous remem- 
brance and fame, our earthly discontent, the power of 
hope, and our longings for immortality. 

To all this we have added an argument drawn from 
our forebodings of the future, and the power of con- 



842 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



science and remorse ; and another drawn from our 
continued love for the dead, closing in the last chap- 
ter with the fragmentary gleanings of the field, under 
the head of natural emblems of the soul's departure at 
death. 

We have thus seen that although nature and rea- 
son are incapable of satisfactorily revealing or dis- 
covering a future state of existence, yet, when once 
revealed, they fully respond to and corroborate this 
glorious truth. As earth echoed back the voice of 
Grod in the thunders of Sinai, so when a voice from 
heaven resounds in our ears the glad tidings — " Ano- 
ther life after death," — the hills and vales of earth, 
the plants that grow, the beasts under our dominion, 
and the insect tribes — the moon and the stars, the 
human body and the deathless soul with all her 
powers, echo back the joyful pean — " another life ! — 
another life 1 1 — another life ! ! !" 

Oh, listen, man ! 
A voice within us speaks that startling word, 
Man, thou shalt never die ! Celestial voices 
Hymn it into our souls. According harps 
By angel fingers touched when the mild stars 
Of morning sang together, sound forth still, ■ 
The song of our great Immortality. 

And now, what is the practical bearing of the great 
and glorious truth that both heaven and earth have 
conspired to teach us ? What lessons ought we to 
deduce from the survey of the evidences of an immor- 
tal, endless life after death, as developed in the pre- 
ceding chapters ? What should be the effect of the 
light of this great central truth, upon other and sub- 
ordinate questions by which it is surrounded ? We 
answer, 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 343 



I. That it discloses, in a strong and cheering light, 

the IMPORTANCE, PERFECTION AND GLORY OF REVEALED 
RELIGION. 

With all the light that 44 Reason and Nature" could 
shed upon the anxious problem, even with the aid of 
an early revelation, borne along the ages through the 
channels of tradition — the philosophers and sages of 
antiquity were utterly unable fully to assure them- 
selves of another life beyond the grave. The best that 
Socrates could say, was, 44 1 hope I am going to good 
men, though this I would not take upon me peremp- 
torily to assert." Speaking of the two ideas, of immor- 
tality and of non-existence, Cicero could only affirm, 
44 Which of these is true God only knows, and which is 
most probable a very great question." 44 When I 
read* I assent ; but when I have laid down the book, 
all that assent vanishes." And such only was the 
faith of Seneca. 44 Immortality," said he, 44 however 
desirable, is rather promised than proved by those great 
men."f 

Such is the light of 44 reason and nature." Not 
thus doubtful is the Christian believer. He knows 
that if his earthly house is dissolved, he has a building 
of God, eternal in the heavens ; that to depart is to 
be with Christ, which is far better ; and that beyond 
this transitory life there awaits him a conscious and 
joyful spiritual existence — a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory. 

Of the ages without revelation as compared with 
the present, it may well be said, 

Once star on star in kind succession rose, 
Now the great sun in healing splendor glows; 

* The writings of Socrates and Plato. f Socrates and Plato. 



344 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



And the man who rejects the Bible, and trusts to 
nature alone as his tutor, must ever wander in dark- 
ness and uncertainty, a prey to distressing doubts and 
anxious forebodings as to what awaits him when his 
change shall come. Look at Henry Kirk White 
first as a votary of natural religion, and then as a 
devout student of the Bible, as described in his own 
inimitable " Star of Bethlehem." 

Once on the raging seas I rode, 

The storm was loud, the night was dark, 
The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed 

The wind that tossed my foundering bark. 
Deep horror then my vitals froze j 

Death struck, I ceased the tide to stem : 
When suddenly a star arose, 

It was the Star of Bethlehem. 

It was my guide, my light, my all; 

It bade my dark forebodings cease ; 
And through the storm and danger's thrall, 

It led me to the port of peace. 
Now safely moored — my perils o'er, 

Til sing, first in night's diadem, 
Forever and forevermore, 

The Star ! the Star of Bethlehem. 

And it is only by the assurances of God's holy 
word that the soul ever can be " safely moored," or 
have her " dark forebodings" entirely cease. 

How truthfully, also, has Beattie described the dif- 
ference between natural and revealed religion, in his 
beautiful " Hermit." 

'Twas thus by the glare of false science betrayed, 
That leads, to bewilder ; and dazzles to blind : 

My thoughts went to roam, from shade onward to shade, 
Destruction before me, and sorrow behind. 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 345 



" Oh pity, great Father of light," then I cried, 

" Thy creature who fain would not wander from thee ,* 
So, humbly in dust I relinquish my pride : 

From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free ! 

"And darkness and doubt are now fleeing away, 

No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn, 
So breaks on the traveler, faint, and astray, 

The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn. 
See Truth, Lore, and Mercy in triumph descending, 

And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom ! 
On the cold cheek of Death smile3 and roses are blending, 

And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb." 

Thus are life and immortality brought to light by 
the gospel. 

Oh thou thrice blessed word of G-od ! 
Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord! 
Star of eternity ! the only star 
By which the bark of man could navigate 
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
Securely : — only star which rose on time, 
And, on its dark and troubled billows, still 
As generation, drifting swiftly by, 
Succeeded generation, threw a ray 
Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of G-od, 
The everlasting hills, pointed the sinner's eye. 

By the anxious doubts and fears of the unbelieving 
heart, and by all the cherished joys that spring from 
the hope of a better and endless life after death, let 
us love, and study, and believe, and obey that holy 
volume the Bible, which alone is able to dispel 
all gloom and fear, and point the eager anxious 
spirit of man to the bright and open pathway of im- 
mortality ! 

II. Though reason and nature are unable satis- 
factorily to reveal a future state, yet are they not 

ON THAT ACCOUNT TO BE DESPISED OR UNDERVALUED. 



346 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

As the ally and elucidator of revealed truth, 
natural theology has its legitimate office and its im- 
portance. Our complaint of the Deist is, not that he 
honors reason and nature, but that he lavishes upon 
them the attention and the homage due to revelation 
alone, and rejects the only guide that can make him 
truly wise. On the contrary, we should welcome to 
our vision the light from heaven, and let it variegate 
and beautify the whole realm of nature. With the 
Bible in our hands, 

Nature all o'er is consecrated ground, 
Teeming with growths immortal and divine. 

Nature and revelation have a common Author, and 
are ever in harmony ; hence, unless the judgment has 
been first perverted, and the reasoning faculties 
clouded by the dark shadows of scepticism, the most 
devout student of Nature will ever be found among 
the most humble and devout worshippers of the true 
and living God. As Christian believers, therefore, 
we have no quarrel with " natural religion,' ' when 
properly interpreted and applied, and kept in its 
legitimate sphere as the ally and elucidator of the 
Bible. 

III. The years of our future and immortal ex- 
istence stand in impressive contrast with our 

PRESENT BRIEF AND RAPIDLY DEPARTING LIFE. 

Well may it be called a " vapor," a " hand's 
breadth," a "tale that is told." 

Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 
'Twixt two unbounded seas we stand. 

Behind us are the numberless years of the past, 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 347 

and before us roll the countless ages of eternity to 
come. "Life is a rapid moment, and it hastens to be 
gone; it gathers dimness and expires."* Like a 
bubble upon the wave it soon breaks and is seen no 
more. 

With all its cares and anxieties, its days and 
nights and months and rolling years— its hopes and 
fears and joys and sorrows — what is this mortal life 
but the mere beginning of an endless existence ? 

This is the bud of being, the dim dawn, 
The twilight of our day, the vestibule : 
Life's theater, as yet is shut ; and Death, 
Strong death alone can heave the massy bar, 
This gross impediment of clay remove, 
And set us, embryos of existence, free. 

As was said of a little girl whose pure spirit was 
early called away from earth, so it might also have 
been said of her had she lived and shone on earth for 
half a century. 

She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven, 

We step upon the stage of conscious being, cast a 
hasty glance around us, draw a few breaths, smile, 
shed a few tears, utter a groan of agony, and are 
gone ! And, yet, we live, and shall live forever ! 
Go count the leaves of all earth's forests, the drops 
of every sea and lake and stream, the sands of every 
shore, and all the stars of heaven — let each represent 
an age of the coming future, and when the last leaf 
and drop and star and grain of sand is told off in 

* Rev. Dr. Dempster at a missionary meeting in Watertown, N. Y., 
in 1836, as he was about to embark for Buenos Ayres as a mis- 
sionary. 



348 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

registering the ongoing cycles of our immortal ex- 
istence, even then we shall but have commenced to 
live ; and the years of our conscious eternal life-time 
shall still go on, and on forever ! * 

IV. The doctrine of the souVs immortality should 
enable us the better to understand the inesti- 
mable VALUE OF THIS SHORT AND FLEETING LIFE. 

As the years of childhood throw their influence 
forward upon the character and destiny and happi- 
ness of man as long as he lives in this world, and as 
the right improvement or neglect of spring-time de- 
termines the quality and the amount of the coming 
harvest, so this short life, brief and fleeting as it is, 
will throw forward its light or its shade upon all the 
years of Dur coming existence. As well expect the 
right eye of that little boy, that has been put out by 
the rebounding arrow from his cross-bow, to be re- 
stored when he reaches manhood, as to expect the 
soul to recover from the scars and bruises and dislo- 
cations of sin, in the world to which she goes. What- 
soever a man soweth that shall he also reap ; and here 
only may W£ sow to the Spirit — to truth and virtue, 
and faith and holy living — that we may hereafter reap 
eternal life. 

* What a very great sum is a billion ! It is a million of millions. A 
million seems large enough ] but a million of millions ! how long do 
you suppose it would take you to count it ? A mill which makes one 
hundred pins in a minute, if kept to work night and day, would only 
make fifty-two millions five hundred and ninety-six thousand pins a 
year; and at that rate the mill must work twenty thousand years with- 
out stopping a single moment, in order to turn out a billion of pins. 
What a vast sum, then, is a billion ; it is beyond our reach to conceive 
of it. And yet, when a billion of years shall have passed, eternity will 
seem to have just begun. How important, then, is the question, "Where 
shall I spend eternity ?" 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 349 



How, then, can we squander these precious hours 
and days and years, in idle amusements and dissipa- 
tion? How neglect from year to year the great sal- 
vation provided in Jesus Christ? Oh how unwise, 
how perilous, how suicidal ! 

No room for mirth or trifling here, 
For worldly hope or worldly fear, 
If life so soon is gone. 

Like the swift ships it is speeding away, and will 
soon be gone, to return no more. 

Our life as a dream ; our time as a stream, 
Glides swiftly away, 

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay. 
The arrow is flown, — the moment is gone, 
The millennial year 

Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here. 

As the generations that have preceded us like the 
successive waves of the sea are now all numbered with 
the dead, so we, dear reader, shall soon have done 
with all things earthly, and entered upon our eternal 
reward. Neglect not, then, the time and opportunities 
that you now enjoy. 

Seize, mortal ! seize the transient hour, 

Improve each moment as it flies ; 
Life's a short summer, man a flower ; 

He dies, alas ! how soon, he dies. 

The Rabbins had a legend that when Methuselah 
was four hundred and sixty years old, the angel of 
the Lord appeared to him, told him that he was to 
live five centuries longer, and advised him to erect for 
himself a permanent dwelling-place. " Only five 
hundred years ?" said the patriarch with a sigh; "if 



350 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

that is all I need no better dwelling. My old tent 
will answer till I leave the world." 

Alas how few of us fully realize that this is not our 
home and live as strangers and pilgrims in the earth. 

Oh for more of the spirit of this beautiful legend, 
even among the professed Christians and ministers of 
the land ! 

The soul of man, a native of the skies, 
High-born, and free, her freedom should maintain, 
Uphold, unmortgaged for earth's little bribes. 

V. In view of the endless years before us, look at the 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THINGS TEMPORAL AND THINGS 
ETERNAL. 

The body needs food and raiment and shelter only 
for a few short years and yet how we struggle and 
toil and vex ourselves, and burden and enslave the 
immortal nature within us, to lay up much goods for 
many years. But of what account will it be to any 
of us a hundred years to come whether we were clad 
in coarse raiment, fed upon plain food and dwelt and 
died in a hovel, or were clothed in purple and fine 
linen, fared sumptuously every day, and lived and 
died in a palace ? How little can our earthly condi- 
tion in these respects, affect our destiny or our hap- 
piness in the world of spirits to which we go. 

But not so with the immortal nature. If that has 
neglected to put on the wedding garment and to taste 
that bread of life of which if we eat we shall live 
forever, all is lost ! True religion, and that alone, 
can prepare us either to live or die, or to be happy 
forever beyond the grave. 

Souls are her charge ; to her 'tis given 
To train them for their native heaven. 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 351 



While, therefore, as beings dwelling for a time in 
houses of clay, we give a portion of our attention and 
efforts to the satisfying of the demands of these dying 
natures, how unwise and unbecoming immortal beings 
to lavish all our time and pow T ers upon the things of 
earth, as if we had no heaven to gain, and no hell to 
shun beyond the tomb ! 

Oh may we set our affections upon things above and 
not upon things on the earth ! It is of little account 
how we are circumstanced here for a few brief years, 
whether rich or poor, honored or forgotten, if we are 
wise unto salvation, live for eternity, and lay hold 
upon everlasting life. 

'No matter which my thoughts employ ; 
A moment's misery or joy : 

But oh ! when both shall end, 
Where shall I find my destined place? 
Shall I my everlasting days 

With fiends or angels spend ? 

Nothing is worth a thought beneath, 
But how I may escape the death 

That never, never dies ! 
How make mine own election sure ; 
And when I fail on earth, secure 

A mansion in the skies. 

Oh let us live, not for the body alone — for earth and 
time — but for the soul, for heaven and immortality ! 
For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soul ? or what shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul ? 

VI. In view of an immortal existence after death, 

HOW REASONABLE AND SUBLIME AND GLORIOUS THE 
WORK OF REDEMPTION BY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

To those who deny an immortal existence to man, 



352 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



it is not strange that the glorious doctrine of redemp- 
tion should seem a cunningly devised fable, and Jesus 
Christ as a root out of dry ground. If no hereafter 
awaits us, of what importance or real value can the 
redemption of the soul be ? " Let us eat, and drink, 
for to-morrow we die." But if we are to live for- 
ever beyond the grave — if the curse of sin must 
either be removed by a sacrificial expiation, accepted 
by each individual spirit, or borne forever in the world 
to come, then the redemption of the soul becomes a 
theme that angels may well desire to look into. Well 
might the Father eternal give his only begotten Son 
to become the propitiation for our sins. Well might 
he wrap himself in the vestments of our humanity, 
that through death he might redeem us from the curse 
of the law, becoming a curse for us. Well might he 
bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that the 
blessings of pardon and holiness might light up all 
the ages of our endless existence. Such an object is 
worthy of God, — and of the infinite sacrifice of Calvary 
made to secure it. 

And no wonder that heaven and earth, angels and 
devils, are enlisted in the solution of the problem of 
the character of our future existence — a problem that 
can only be measured by the agonies of the cross and 
the years of our coming eternity ! 

The soul of man — Jehovah's breath! 

That keeps two worlds at strife ; 
Hell moves beneath to work its death, 

Heaven stoops to give it life. ^ 

When we contemplate her powers — her capabilities 
of improvement, and* of joy or sorrow — and her desti- 
nation to endless being ; then only do we rise to some 



RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSIONS. 353 



just conception of her almost infinite value. Of what 
importance is a city, a fleet of ships, an empire, com- 
pared with one deathless soul of man ? 

Knowest thou the importance of a soul immortal ? 

Behold yon midnight glory ! world on world ! 

Amazing pomp ! redouble this amaze, 

Ten thousand add, add twice ten thousand more, 

Then weigh the whole ! One soul outweighs them all, 

And calls the astonishing magnificence 

Of unintelligent creation poor ! 

23 



354 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONSOLATION FOR THE BEREFT AND SORROWING. 

A FIRM belief in the immortality of the soul is 
well calculated to mitigate our sorrow and dry our 
tears when those we love are removed from us by 
death. 

I. It is consoling to think as we see the once fair 
and lovely forms of friends and kindred consigned 
to the tomb, that they still live, and may re- 
member AND LOVE US STILL IN THE FAR OFF SPIRIT 
LAND. 

Why, what is death hut life 

In other forms of being — life without 

The coarser attributes of man, the dull 

And momently decaying frame which holds 

The eternal spirit in, and binds it down 

To brotherhood with brutes? There's no such thing 

As death ! What's called so is but the beginning 

Of a new existence : a fresh segment in 

The eternal round of change. 

Though we talk of them as dead, yet theirs alone 
is "the land of life." 

" This is the desert, this the solitude: 
How populous, how vital is the grave !" 

Well may we write upon the tomb-stone, "Not 
lost, but gone before." A beloved Christian friend 
has left us, but he has only emigrated to a " better 



CONSOLATION FOR THE BEREFT, 855 

country." We see beyond the stream the smoke of 
his cottage. Was the deceased a tender infant, and 
lovely little boy or girl? They have part in the great 
propitiation, without faith, without baptism, without 
"extreme unction," or any other ceremony. Christ 
the second Adam has for them fully retrieved the 
ruin brought upon them by the first. There is no 
place in hell for infant spirits; for "of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." Look up, then, bereft and 
weeping mother ! Like flocks of snow-w T hite doves, the 
souls of the early dead hover over the heavenly para- 
dise, and dwell in the light of God's presence forever. 

Even though you may not be a Christian, and 
therefore feel that you are not prepared to die, yet 
in respect to the babe that has been removed from 
you, all is safe. It had no knowledge of God, of his 
holy law, of the sin of Adam, or of Christ the Saviour, 
and could have none; and without repentance or faith 
its little robes are washed and made white in the blood 
of the Lamb. Think of it, then, not as in that tiny 
grave where you go to w r eep, but above the stars; not 
as while with you subject to sickness, pain, and 
death, but where none ever say I am sick, and where 
sickness, pain, and death, are unknown. Not as in- 
habiting a world of sin, but a citizen of that bright 
and holy land, where no clouds are seen, no tears 
flow, where flowers never fade, and where "sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away !" 

II. Do you weep for a pious brother, parent, child, 
or companion? They live and are at rest! 

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from 
henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labors." Rev. xiv. 13. 



856 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



I see a world of spirits bright, 

That taste the pleasure there ; 
They all are robed in spotless white, 

And conquering palms they bear. 

"I shall go to him," said the heart-stricken David 
of his departed son. Oh how this thought has soothed 
the agonies of millions of bleeding hearts! "My 
brother, my wife, my gentle babe are gone, but they 
live immortal with the angels, where all tears are 
wiped away." Happy dwellers in that "better 
country." 

Dreams may not picture a world so fair, 
Sorrow and sin may not enter there, 
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, 
'Tis beyond the stars, and beyond the tomb. 

Oh could they but speak to us from these realms 
of peace, how would they chide our sorrows, and bid 
us to weep no more. Methinks could we in this lower 
world but hear their joyful chorus — their song of 
triumph and rejoicing would be — 

I shine in the light of God ; 

His likeness stamps my brow ; 
Through the valley of death my feet have trod. 

And I reign in glory now. 

No sin, no grief, no pain, 

Safe in my happy home, 
My fears all fled, my doubts all slain, 

My hour of triumph's come. 

I have reached the joys of heaven ; 

I am one of the sainted band ; 
To my head a crown of gold is given, 

And a harp is in my hand. 

Do you mourn when another star 

Shines out in the glittering sky ? 
Do you weep when the raging voice of war 

And the storms of conflict die? 



CONSOLATION FOR THE BEREFT. 



357 



Then why do your tears run down, 

Why your hearts so sorely riven, 
For another gem in a Saviour's crown, 

And another soul in heaven ? 

Think of the scenes of glory that passed before 
the enraptured gaze of the Kevelator. See that 
gorgeous city, with its gates of pearl, its twelve 
foundations, its streets of gold, its river and its trees 
of life! Do you see that joyful company in white 
robes? Mark those palms of victory! See those 
crowns of life adorning every brow ! Mark how with 
harp and voice they pour forth their songs of ever- 
lasting joy unto God and the Lamb ! Your departed 
kindred are there ! Your friend is one of that joyful 
and immortal company. 

Oh their crowns ! how bright they sparkle, 

Such as rnonarchs never wore : 
They are gone to richer pastures, 

Jesus is their Shepherd there : 

Hail ! ye happy, happy spirits, 

Death no more shall make you fear, 
Grief nor sorrow, pain nor anguish, 

Shall no more distress you there. 

Then wipe away those tears. Anoint thy head 
and wash thy face, that thou appear no more to 
sorrow. The land of darkness and tears, and the 
gates of death are passed; your kindred have en- 
tered heaven. Then weep no more till you too 
shall go, where all tears are wiped away. 

III. We may expect, if Christians, TO meet and 

KNOW OUR PIOUS KINDRED, IN THE LAND BEYOND THE 
GRAVE. 

We are not to know less but more hereafter. Now 



358 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

fre know in part, but then that which is perfect will 
liave come. This is our childhood, that shall be our 
maturer life, when we shall have put away childish 
things. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then 
face to face, and knowing as we are known. Abraham, 
Dives, and Lazarus, knew each other. Moses and 
Elias are Moses and Elias still. The immortal whom 
John saw, Rev. xxii. 8, 9, introduced himself as a 
" fellow servant/' and "of his brethren the prophets;" 
and the Jews are to see and know Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. 

It cannot be that the saved shall not know each 
other in the heavenly land. Such an arrangement 
would detract indescribably from the bliss of that final 
state. A stranger in heaven! The past all for- 
gotten! Father, mother, wife, children and other 
kindred here, but I can never know them ! I promised 
to meet some of them in heaven — they are here, I am 
here, I may have met them, sung with them, shouted 
with them, harped with them, walked the streets of the 
city and the sea of glass with them, bowed before the 
everlasting throne with them, but I do not, cannot 
know them ! Earth was the grave of friendship — I can 
greet those I knew and loved on earth no more for- 
ever ! Ah no, heart-stricken mourner ! No such 
soliloquy will ever be heard beyond the grave. Heaven 
is a land of purest social bliss, peopled with bright 
circles of deathless friends. We shall know each other 
in heaven! 

Yes ! oh, yes ! in that land, that happy land, 
They that meet shall know each other, 
Far beyond the rolling river, 
Meet to sing and love forever, 

In that happy land. 



CONSOLATION FOR THE BEREFT. 



359 



How joyful the thought of such a meeting ! How 
blissful the prospect of such a heaven! How fondly 
we dwell upon the tender theme of re-union with "the 
loved and lost " in the regions of eternal life! We 
stand and gaze across the river of death, we believe 
and hope, and yet we love to repeat the fond interro- 
gatory — " Shall I know my kindred in heaven f" 

When we hear the music ringing. 

Thro' the bright, celestial dome, 
When sweet angel voices singing, 

Gladly bid us welcome home, 
To the land of ancient story, 

Where the spirit knows no care, 
In the land of light and glory, 

Shall we know each other there? 

When the holy angels meet us, 

As we go to join their band, 
Shall we know the friends that greet v.s 

In the glorious spirit land ? 
Shall we see their bright eyes shining 

On us, as in days of yore ? 
Shall we feel their dear arms twining, 

Fondly round us as before ? 

Yes ! my earth- worn soul rejoices, 

And my weary heart grows light, 
For the thrilling angel voices, 

And the angel faces bright, 
That shall welcome me in heaven, 

Are the loved of long ago, 
And to them 'tis kindly given, 

Thus their mortal friends to know. 

Oh ! ye weary ones and sad ones, 

Droop not. faint not by the way ! 
Ye shall join the loved and lost ones, 

In the land of perfect day ! 
Harp-strings touched by angel fingers, 

Murmur in my raptured ear, 
Ever more their sweet tones linger, 

We shall know each other there ! 



360 THE IMMORTALITY OE THE SOUL. 



Thus does the hope of another life after death be- 
come a solace to the wounded and bereft spirit, a 
balm for the aching and bleeding heart. Oh may all 
that weep on earth lay hold of its divine consolations, 
and weep no more ! 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 361 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

GLORIOUS PROSPECTS BEFORE THE DYING CHRISTIAN. 

Weep not, my Redeemer lives ; 

Heavenward springing from the dust, 
Clear-eyed Hope her comfort gives ; 

Faith, Heaven's champion, bids us trust ; 
Love eternal whispers nigh, 

" Child of God, fear not to die !" 

In view of the doctrine of the soul's immortality, 
how bright and glorious the prospect before the dying 
believer. 

O glorious hope of immortality ! 
At thought of thee, the coffin, and the tomb, 
Affright no more ; and even the monster Death 
Loses his fearful form and seems a friend. 

Death to the good man is but the dawning of an 
eternal day. Not till then does he enter upon a life 
unclogged by corruption. He ascends to be with 
Christ, which is far better. Then farewell earth — 
farewell toil and pain and tears and death ! He 
goes to join the immortal company of heaven, who 
sing and shine in the presence of Grod forever. 

And though the hills of death 

May hide the bright array, 
The marshalled brotherhood of souls 

Still keeps its upward way : 



362 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Upward ! forever upward ! 

I see their march sublime, 
And hear the glorious music 

Of the conquerors of time. 

No doubts, no darkness, no fear ! The two-leaved 
gates of eternity are gently opening before him, 
and the light of that brighter world is pouring forth 
upon the scene of his departure. Hark ! He sings ! 

— What is this absorbs me quite. — 
Steals my senses, shuts my sight, — 
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath ? 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death ? 

The world recedes : it disappears : 
Heaven opens on my eyes : my ears 

With sounds seraphic ring. 
Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! 
0 grave, where is thy victory ? 

0 death, where is thy sting ? 

See the dying Mozart, as he stands by the river 
of death, looks back upon the toils of the past, and 
forward to the joys of the immortal future. How 
appropriate the language of his "cygnean " song, the 
last he heard on earth.* 

* Wolfgang Mozart, the great German composer, died at Vienna in the 
year 1791. There is something strikingly beautiful and touching in 
the circumstances of his death. His sweetest song was the last he sung 
— the Requiem. He had been employed upon this exquisite piece for 
several weeks, his soul filled with inspirations of richest melody, and 
already claiming kindred with immortality. After giving it its last 
touch, and breathing into it that undying spirit of song which was to 
consecrate it through all time, as his " cygnean strain," he fell into a 
gentle and quiet slumber. At length the light footsteps of his 
daughter Emilie awoke him. u Come hither," said he, u my Emilie — 
my task is done — the Requiem — my Requiem is finished/' " Say not 
so, dear father," said the gentle girl, interrupting him as tears stood in 
her eyes. " You must be better — you look better, for even now your 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 



363 



Spirit ! thy labor is o'er ! 
Thy term of probation is run, 
Thy steps are now bound for the untrodden shore, 
And the race of immortals begun. 

Spirit ! look not on the strife, 
Or the pleasures of earth with regret — 
Pause not on the threshold of limitless life 
To mourn for the thing that is set. 

Spirit ! no fetters can bind, 
■ Xo wicked have power to molest : 
There the weary, like thee — the wretched shall find 
A haven, a mansion of rest. 

Spirit ! how bright is the road 
For which thou art now on the wing. 
Thy home it will be, with thy Saviour and God, 
Their loud hallelujah to sing. 

In that better land "there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any 
more pain, for the former things are passed away.'' 
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the 
weary are forever at rest. There the Lamb that is in 

cheek has a glow upon it. I am snre we will nurse you well again. 
Let me bring you something refreshing."'" "Do not deceive yourself, 
my love," said the dying father, '"'this wasted form can never be re- 
stored by human aid. From Heaven's mercy alone do I look for aid, 
in this my dying hour. Ton spoke of refreshment, my Emilie — take 
these my last notes — sit down to my piano here — sing with them the 
hymn of your sainted mother — let me once more hear those tones which 
have been so lorfg my solacement and delight.*' Emilie obeyed, and 
with a voice enriched with tenderest emotion, sang the following 
stanzas : 

Spirit ! thy labor is o'er. 4sc. 

as cited above. 

As she concluded, she dwelt for a moment upon the low melancholy 
notes of the piece, and then turning from the instrument looked in 
silence for the approving smile of her father. It was the still passion- 
less smile which the rapt and joyous spirit left — with the seal of death 
upon those features. 



364 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



the midst of the throne shall lead us to fountains of 
living waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from 
our eyes. 

No tear shall be in heaven, no gathering gloom, 
Shall o'er that glorious landscape ever come, 
No tears shall fall, in sadness o'er those flowers, 
That breathe their fragrance through celestial bowers. 

No tear shall be in heaven, no sorrows reign, 
No secret anguish, no corporeal pain ; 
No shivering limbs, no burning fever there, 
No soul's eclipse, no winter of despair. 

No night shall be in heaven, but endless noon, 
No fast declining sun, nor waning moon, 
But there the Lamb shall yield perpetual light, 
'Mid pastures green, and waters ever bright. 

No tear shall be in heaven, no darkened room, 
No bed of death, or silence of the tomb ; 
But breezes ever fresh with love and truth, 
Shall brace the frame with an immortal youth. 

In view of such a consummation, of what account 
are our momentary earthly sufferings, trials, disap- 
pointments, or persecution ? Are they worthy to be 
compared with the glory to be revealed ? Should we 
not rather bless God for every pang we feel, knowing 
that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory ? 

Then, oh my soul, despond no more, 
The storm of life will soon be o'er, 
And I shall find the peaceful shore 

Of everlasting rest. 
0 happy day ! Oh joyful hour, 
When freed from earth my soul shall tower, 
Beyond the reach of Satan's power, 

To be forever blest. 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 365 



Well might the dying Mrs. Osgood write, with her 
feet almost upon the eternal shore, 

I'm going through the eternal gates, 

Ere June's sweet roses blow; 
Death's lovely angel leads me there. 

And it is sweet to go. 

Beloved reader ! Does your bosom glow with this 
glorious hope of joys immortal beyond the grave? 
If so, let us rejoice together. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath 
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance 
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away. May neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, ever separate us from the love of God which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. May this "good hope 
through grace," be our solace and strength through 
life, our support and consolation in death, and only 
cease to shine and glow within us, when mortality is 
swallowed up of life ! 

I said, "let us rejoice together." And yet the 
lines I now write will be read by some, when the 
hand that writes them has crumbled back to dust. 
But even then let us rejoice together: 

One army of the living Grod, 

To his command we bow ; 
Part of his host have crossed the flood, 

And part are crossing now. 

From beyond the stars we may exclaim, Rejoice 



366 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, 



0 earth ! Cry out and shout ye inhabitants of Zion ! 
ye heirs of glory on the way to these heavenly man- 
sions ! While from earth you may respond, Sing on ! 
ye heavenly hosts, sing on ! By faith we hear your 
melodies — we see your shining robes and sparkling 
crowns — we are treading the narrow wav you trod — 
we have an earnest of our future inheritance, — we 
are fighting the good fight of faith, and expect to 
overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and to meet you 
ere long in heaven!" 

There all the ship's company meet. 

Who sailed with the Master beneath : 
With shouting each other they greet, 

And triumph o'er sorrow and death, 
The voyage of life's at an end, 

The mortal affliction is past : 
The age that in heaven they spend, 

Forever and ever shall last. 

Cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness, sick- 
ness, pain, and death — all these are forever past. 

The niourner is blessed by his Saviour and God, 
The parted rejoin in that blest abode : 
*Tis a mansion of beauty and glory and light, 
And the angels are there in their robes of white : 
Its walls are of onyx-stone, jasper and gold, 
But the half of its beauty can never be told — 
Our friends wait us there, and they beckon away, 
We hasten to join them in endless day. 

But it will not be the everlasting rest — the robes 
and palms, — the harps and streets of gold — the river 
and trees of life — the society of the angels ; the meet- 
ing again with those who have gone before, that will 
constitute the bliss of heaven. 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 



367 



Not all the harps above, 

Can make a heavenly place, 
If God his residence remove, 

Or but conceal his face. 

To Thee and Thee alone, 

The angels owe their bliss ; 
They sit around the glorious throne 

And dwell where Jesus is. 

Well might a devout servant of God declare that 
he expected to gaze a thousand years upon him who 
bought him with his own blood, before he could 
notice any merely earthly friend or relative, how- 
ever dear. Pure and holy and bright and enduring 
as are the heavenly mansions, they would be all 
clouds and darkness and gloom without the light 
of the Lamb. 

When on my new-fledged wings I rise, 
To tread those shores beyond the skies, 
What object first shall strike my eyes ? 
And where shall I begin my joys ? 
I'll run through every golden street, 
And ask each blissful soul I meet, 
Where is the God whose praise ye sing ? 
Oh lead a stranger to your King ! 

But these pages may be read by some of the 
friends of our youth and early manhood, — fellow- 
Christians and fellow-laborers of other years, — who, 
like the writer begin to mark the lengthening shadows 
of life's declining day, and are looking for the wel- 
come opening of the eternal gates. 

To all such, who may look upon the memorial of 
our former earthly being, fronting the title page, 
when we are gone, or drop a tear over the spot where 



368 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



our ashes rest — to all such, kindred in the flesh, and 
beloved brethren in Christ, we would say, 

The soul that thou hast loved 

Will not be there, 
It will hare plumed its wings, 

And soared afar. 
Then weep not o'er my change, 

When I am free — 
When I've left my cell and gained 

My liberty. 

Afar in yonder sky, 

I'll find my home, 
And wait in realms of light 

For thee to come. 
Call me not back to earth, 

To leave my crown, 
I have fought through sin and death, 

My victory's won. 

Excuse, indulgent reader, these frank and unaf- 
fected disclosures of our personal hopes and prospects. 
They are the spontaneous outgushings of a heart still 
youthful and fresh in its friendships and Christian 
affections — a tribute to the memory of thousands of 
cherished earthly friends, scattered here and there 
over the fields of our itinerant labor, but whom we 
shall meet no more on earth. May we all meet in 
peace beyond the grave ! 

But of the prospect that opens before the good man 
in the hour of death, — 

Who can paint the scenes of glory 
Where the ransomed dwell on high ? 

Eve hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither 
hath it entered into the heart of man fully to con- 
ceive of the glory that awaits the Christian beyond 
the vale of death. 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 



No sickness there, 
No weary wasting of the frame away, 

No fearful shrinking from the midnight air, 
No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray. 

No hidden grief, 
No wild and cheerless visions of despair, 

No vain petition for a swift relief, 
No tearful eye, no broken hearts are there. 

Care has no home 
Within that realm of ceaseless praise and song: 

Its tossing billows break and melt in foam, 
Far from the mansions of the spirit throng. 

The storm's black wing 
Is never spread athwart celestial skies : 

Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring, 
As some poor tender floweret fades and dies. 

No night distils 
Its chilling dews upon the tender frame: 

No morn is needed there ! the light which fills 
That land of glory, from its Maker came. 

No parting friends 
O'er mournful recollections have to weep: 
No bed of death enduring love attends 
To watch the coming of a pulseless sleep. 

No blasted Sowers, 
Or withered bud celestial gardens know: 

No scorching blast, or fierce descending shower, 
Scatters destruction like a ruthless foe. 

No battle word 
Alarms the sacred host with fear and dread : 

The song of peace creation's morning heard, 
Is sung wherever angel footsteps tread. 

Let us depart, 
If home like this await the weary soul : 

Look up thou stricken one ! thy wounded heart 
Shall bleed no more at sorrow's stern control. 



370 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOFL. 



"With faith our guide. 
White-robed and innocent, to tread the way, 

Why fear to plunge in Jordan's rolling tide. 
And find the haven of eternal day ? 



Such is the prospect opened before the Christian as 
he passes the gates of death. No wonder he often 
shouts. Xo wonder he cries, "Victory! Victory! 
through the blood of the Lamb !" 



Why should I shrink at pain or woe ? 

Or feel, at death, dismay ? 
I've Canaan's goodly land in view. 

And realms of endless day. 



Then welcome Death ! welcome the tomb and the 
bright world beyond ! Welcome ye angels immor- 
tal! Welcome ye blissful hosts, once of earth, and 
heirs of sorrow pain and death, but now forever 
free ! "Welcome my long-lost kindred who await my 
coming ! 

Welcome, thrice welcome, thou gates of dav ! 
thou city of my God ! All hail Immortality ! All 
hail, Eternal Life ! ! 

Forever with the Lord ! 

Amen, so let it be ! 
Life from the dead is in that word, 

'Tis immortality. 

Here in the body pent. 

Absent from him I roam : 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 

A day's march nearer home. 



Forever with the Lord ! 

Father, if ''tis thy will. 
The promise of that faithful word, 

E'en here to me fulfil. 



THE GOOD MAN'S PROSPECTS. 



So, when hit latest breath 
Shall rend the veil in twain, 

By death I shall escape from death, 
And life eternal gain. 

Knowing as I am known. 

How shall I love that word, 
And oft repeat before the throne, 

Forever with the Lord ! 



372 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CLOSING APPEAL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

'Tis not the whole of life to live, 
Nor all of death to die. 

And now dear reader, our work draws to a close. 
A few more pages and our communion with you may 
end forever. To what additional theme ought those 
pages to be devoted ? If you are to exist forever in 
another world — if the life that now is, is to determine 
our allotment in the world to come, and, especially if 
you are not a Christian, and have no good hope 
through grace of everlasting life in heaven, what 
ought I to say to you in closing the discussion of the 
momentous theme of the soul's immortality ? Will 
you not expect an appeal in behalf of that undying 
spirit whose endless interests you have so long ne- 
glected ? And will you not listen as a candidate for 
immortality, whose days are so soon to be accom- 
plished as the days of an hireling ? 

I. Have you a doubt in your own mind that your soul 
is immortal, and that you are to live in joy or woe for- 
ever ? 

Is not this doctrine clearly revealed in the Holy 
Scriptures, and corroborated by all the facts and 
phenomena of reason and nature ? Have you the 
remotest idea that when you die that is to be your 



CLOSING APPEAL. 



373 



end ? You shudder at the thought. Every power 
and susceptibility of your undying nature cries out 
against the idea. You shrink back from the contem- 
plation of the cold, dark, cheerless abyss of non-ex- 
istence. You cannot, you would not shake off the 
conviction that that which thinks and knows and 
hopes and fears within you shall always exist. 

The sun is but a spark of fire, 

A transient meteor of the sky ; 
The soul, immortal as its sire, 

Shall never die ! 

Whatever else, then, you may for the present be- 
lieve or reject, let this great truth sink deep into your 
heart — I am to exist eternally ! Believe it, ponder 
it, cherish it, till it shall permeate the whole soul and 
spirit, chasten your aspirations and relishes and hopes 
and mould your purposes for a life befitting your im- 
mortal destination. 

II. I beseech you to ponder the character of your 
past life. 

Are you not a sinner in the sight of God? Have 
you not often and long trampled upon his holy law, 
and done despite to the Spirit of grace ? If they are 
cursed who continue not in all things written in the 
book of the law to do them, are you not under this 
curse ? and does not the wrath of God abide upon 
you ? Oh be candid and impartial with your own soul. 
You are alone with God, oh think as for eternity ! 

'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours. 
And ask them what report they bore to heaven. 



Oh may the blessed Spirit of God seal upon the 



374 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



conscience afresh a sense of the guilt and desert 
of sin, and of your need of pardon and reconcilia- 
tion to God, before you go hence and are here no 
more ! 

III. Remember the relation of the present life to the 
interminable future, as the seed-time of an immortal 
harvest. 

As we sow here so shall we reap hereafter. Be- 
yond this fleeting life there is prepared for the 
righteous a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 
There is a heaven, a glorious heaven beyond the 
stars. 

"And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
tion, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in 
the Lamb's book of life." Rev. xxi. 27. 

"And there shall be no more curse: but the throne 
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his 
servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face: 
and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there 
shall be no night there; and they need no candle, 
neither light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth 
them light: and they shall reign forever and ever." 
Rev. xxii. 3-5. 

"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that 
they may have right to the tree of life, and may 
enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 
xxii. 15. 

Yes, blessed be the Lord, 

Beyond this vale of tears. 

There is a life above, 
Unmeasured by the flight of years ; 

And all that life is love. 



CLOSING APPEAL. 



375 



Be assured also, that a miserable eternity awaits 
the unforgiven and unsanctified. 

There is a death whose pang, 

Outlasts the fleeting breath : 
Oh what eternal horrors hang, 

Around the second death ! 

The redeemed and blood-washed shall "see life" 
and enter heaven. 

" Bnt the fearful, and unbelieving, and the 
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and 
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have 
their part in the lake which burnetii with fire 
and brimstone: which is the second death." Rev. 
xxi. 8. 

" For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore- 
mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoso- 
ever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev. xxii. 15. 
"And these shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt, 
xxv. 46. 

Oh do not be beguiled by the syren song of "no 
hell beyond the grave," to steer on without pardon 
or hope, till you are forever wrecked amid the dark 
rocks of error and the breakers of death! Trust not 
your endless destiny to a speculation that has no 
countenance in the word of God, and has failed its 
thousands when they most needed the girdings of 
truth and hope, and when it was too late to build on 
the Rock of Ages. 

IV. Remember that your only hope is in Jesus 
Christ, the Saviour of lost souls. 



376 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



Talk they of morals ? 0 thou bleeding Love, 
Thou Maker of new morals to mankind ! 
The grand morality is love to Thee. 

" Other foundation can no man lay than that is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ." "We are all as an un- 
clean thing, and all our righteousness as filthy rags." 
We are only forgiven "through the redemption that 
is in Christ Jesus," and "washed from our sins in his 
blood." There is "no other name given under 
heaven, or among men, whereby we must be saved." 
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, 
but according to his mercy he saveth us, by the 
washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost." 

V. Remember, also, that salvation from sin is through 
faith in the blood of Christ 

" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." 
For "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, even so was the Son of man lifted up, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." He only becomes our per- 
sonal propitiation "through faith in his blood;" for 
"with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; 
and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion." 

VI. Do not be deluded by the idea that because you 
cannot merit heaven, or wash away the guilt of sin, by 
a righteous life, that, therefore, you have nothing to do 
that you may be saved. 

We are workers together with God. Though 
salvation is of grace, still in an infinitely important 
sense is it true that, 



CLOSING APPEAL. 



377 



We shape ourselves the joy or woe, 

Of which the coming life is made, 
And fill our future hemisphere, 

"With sunshine or with shade. 

God has made us free, and has set life and death 
before us. Christ has died for us, the just for the 
unjust that he might bring us to God, and it is for us 
to believe on him and live, or reject him and perish. 

Ages pass away, 
Thrones fall, and nations disappear, and worlds 
Grow old and go to wreck : the soul alone 
Endures, and what she chooseth for herself, 
The arbiter of her own destiny, 
That only shall be permanent. 

God has done all on his part that is necessary for 
your salvation, at least till you turn penitently to 
him: it now remains for you to settle your endless 
destiny. If you will you may be saved ! You yet 
live, and, 

Life is the hour that God has given 
T' escape from hell and fly to heaven ; 
The day of grace — and mortals may 
Secure the blessings of the day. 

VII. Finally, brother immortal, candidate for 
heaven or hell, purchase of a Redeemer's blood, let 
me entreat you to act at once, and neglect no longer 
the great salvation ! 

Are you young ? So much the more hope in your 
case if you now turn to God. Have you spent much 
of your short life in sin already ? So much the 
greater need of immediate action. Time is flying ; 
life is speeding away; we travel enchanted ground; 
and death and hell pursue! " Behold noiv is the 
accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." 



378 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



While God invites, how blest the day ! 

How sweet the gospel's charming sound ! 
Come, sinner, haste, oh haste away, 

While yet a pardoning God is found. 

A little longer and it may be forever too late ! 
Why, then delay? 

Hasten, sinner, to return ! 

Stay not for the morrow's sun, 
Lest thy lamp should fail to burn, 

Ere salvation's work is done. 

PRAYER. 

OGOD of infinite mercies ! Look thou upon 
these pages with favor and compassion. 
Pardon their many errors and imperfections. 
Attend them with thy blessing, and shed thou 
upon the mind and heart of all who shall read 
them the light and precious guidance of thy Holy 
Spirit. May they be instrumental in thy hands 
in convincing the unbeliever of his immortal 
destination. May they strengthen the faith, 
brighten the prospects, and increase the joys 
of thy people. May they tend to bind the 
hearts of all who read them, to thy precious 
word, and to the cross of Christ. May they 
alleviate the sorrows of the bereft and broken- 
hearted ; impress the soul of the reader with a 
deeper sense of the brevity and importance of 
this mortal life, the vanity of all things earthly, 
and the inestimable value of things spiritual 



CLOSING APPEAL. 



379 



and eternal. Above all, O Lord, we humbly 
beseech thee, so to follow with thy blessing 
this humble volume, wherever it may go, and 
by whomsoever it may be read, that as thy 
servant was brought to repentance and faith in 
thee through the instrumentality of a book,* 
so this book may be the means in thy hands of 
winning souls to Christ, who shall shine as the 
stars forever and ever. 

Bless especially, we beseech thee, the un- 
converted reader as he may close this volume, 
and be about to turn his thoughts to other 
themes and pursuits. May he be persuaded by 
the brevity and uncertainty of life, the everlast- 
ing years before him after death, the joys of 
heaven, the pains of hell, the voice of con- 
science, the blood of Christ, and the strivings 
of the Holy Ghost, to give thee his heart! 
And to Thy name shall be the everlasting 
praise ! 



And now unto the ever blessed and adorable 
Trinity — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
— one God, world without end — be honor and 

* The writer was convinced of sin and led to Christ, in December, 
1834, through the instrumentality of " The Course of Time, a poem by 
Robert Pollok." 



Oh happy day that fixed my choice, 
On Thee my Saviour and my God. 



380 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



power, dominion and glory, forever and ever. 

Amen. 

Note. — As stated in the Preface, so we here repeat, that it is the 
Author's purpose, should life and health permit, to prepare a similar 
volume soon upon The Resurrection of the Dead; to be followed by one 
devoted exclusively to The Heavenly World, and another upon the 
subject of Future Punishment. Should a gracious Providence favor this 
design, it is hoped that the entire four volumes may be issued, in uni- 
form style, as early as January, 1867 at latest. 



APPENDIX. 



The following excellent poems are so pertinent to 
the subject of Immortality, and yet so seldom to be 
met with, that we insert them here as well for the 
edification of the devout reader, as to prevent their 
falling into oblivion. 

The first is by Mrs. S. K. Furman, but we are 
unable to give the author of the second. 



THE OLD MAN'S VALEDICTORY. 

Wayworn, infirm, and old, 
Lo, on my pilgrim's trusty staff I bow ; 
While evening's gathering shadows, damp and cold, 

Fall on my heart and brow. 

The winds of time have swept, 
Long since, my youth and manhood's prime away ; 
And through my frame a withering blight has crept — 

The mildew of decay. 

Along life's backward track 
Sweet echoes float from out my cottage door ; 
And oft in solitude I wander back 

To seek the loved once more. 

381 



362 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



My children, fair and bright 
As golden sunbeams, gathered round me there ; 
Again I view the mother's fond delight 

And list her trusting prayer. 

Blest little ones that came 
And caroled till their angel-plumes were given. 
Perched in our hearts and lisped the parents' names, 

Then flew away to heaven. 

And long, lone years have flown 
Since with her meek hands folded on her breast, 
My gentle wife, o'er weary, laid her down 

Beside her babes to rest. 

0 then, in that great grief. 
God's loving chastenings I no longer spurned, 
But sought the proffered balm of sweet relief 

For which my spirit yearned. 

Since then a rugged way 
Ofttimes has led me through misfortune's vale : 
Yet His sure word and grace have been my stay. 

Whose promises ne'er fail. 

Safe through the wilderness. 
My home grows nearer in the realms of love ; 
Soon T shall join the sacred strains of bliss 

Sung by the blest above. 

In prayer and trust I wait 
On life's dim threshold, free from doubt and fears, 
Watching the opening of death's mystic gate 

To the eternal years. 



APPENDIX. 



0 'twas a touching sight ! 
A toil-worn pilgrim on the golden strand. 
With white locks waving in the mellow light 

Of the soft Beulah Land : 

That gentle interlude 
Of second childhood's sweet simplicity, 
A spring in autumn, tender and subdued. 

Telling of life to be : 

Flushing the weary heart 
"With loving pictures of life's early bowers, 
Wreathing the spirit ere it doth depart 

With sweet immortal flowers. 

When came the Sabbath day 
They bore him in with slow and muffled tread ; 
In hallowed rest before the altar lay. 

"White-robed, the sainted dead. 

Earth's sorrows all are past : 
On his mute lips the smile of joy we see, 
And these his tender words, to us the last. 

His valedictory. 



IMMORTAL LONGINGS. 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
My heart is weary, and I long for rest ; 

Is not my earthly mission well-nigh done ? 
I cannot bear this burden on my breast — 

It weighs my spirit downward like a stone. 



384 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



My saddened life is ever vailed in clouds, 
And midnight darkness hath come o'er my soul. 

My once bright hopes are wrapped away in shrouds, 
And sorrow's heavy surges round me roll. 
Sweet Christ, 0 may I come? 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
Life hath a dark Sahara been to me ! 

The few bright flowers that bloomed along my way 
Were soon transplanted — each beloved tree 

To bloom perennial in the " perfect day." 
My dear loved ones sit round thy golden throne, 

And wait — a broken circle till I come ; 
Let me not linger here on earth alone — 

0 let me join them in their heavenly home ! 

Sweet Christ, 0 may I come ? 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
Behind me roars the angry ocean tide ; 

Each crested wave comes nearer, nearer still : 
The muttering thunders in the billows hide ; 

1 shudder at their hoarse, loud voice so chill ; 
I cannot meet the fierce, wild storm of life ! 

I have no strength to battle with it more ! 
Too long I've wrestled in the painful strife ; 
I must lay down the burden that I bore. 
Sweet Christ, 0 may I come ? 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
In dreams I hear thy white-robed angels sing 

The golden glories of their beauteous land ; 
I hear the rustle of each snowy wing, 

And feel their touch upon my fevered hand. 



APPENDIX. 



385 



Colder than ever seems the earth to me, 
When I awake and see them flit away ; 

I strain my eyes the last bright glimpse to see, 
And watch them vanish through the gates of day. 
Sweet Christ, 0 may I come ? 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
I watch my toiling breath grow faint and slow ; 

I note the hectic deepening day by day, 
And feel my life is like a wreath of snow, 

Which one kind breath of heaven would melt away. 
A little longer in this world of vice — 

The wished-for boundary is almost passed — 
I see the shining shore of Paradise. 

I know my pain is almost o'er at last. 
Sweet Christ, 0 let me come ! 

Christ, let me come to thee ! 
I've seen the gates that guard thy holy clime ; 

And often caught a gleam from far (within ; ) 
I know they'll open in thine own good time, 

And let thy weary, wandering child come in. 
I've had, all through this weary care and pain, 

One blessed hope, that ne'er has known despair — 
It cheers me like the sunshine after rain ! 

I know thou' It hear my deep and heartfelt prayer, 
And let me come to thee ! 



25 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS. 



CHAP. 
I., 
II.. 



GENESIS. 

VERSE 

.. 26,27 

1 

7 

17 



PAGE 

26 
38 
26 

... 121 
18-24 34,35 



III.. 
V.. 



19., 
3.. 
4., 



18. 



XXV... 
XXXV..., 

XLII 21,22 

" 29 

XLVI..., 
XLIX..., 
L... 



26. 
33.. 
3-6. 
10. 



42 

38 
124 
44 
50 
313 
44 
39 
44, 50 
50 
50 



III.. 



EXODUS. 
. 2-6 



NUMBERS. 



XVI., 
XXII... 



22. 

27., 



XXXIII 
XXXIV 



DEUTERONOMY. 

13 



I SAMUEL. 
XXVII 1 



II SAMUEL. 
XII 19-23 



I KINGS. 



IV 33., 

VIII 27. 

XXVII 20-22 



288 



133 



46 



287 
18 

45 



CHAP. 
II 



II KINGS. 

VERSE 

11 



JOB. 
IV.. 18,19.. 



X.. 
XIV.. 

XXXII.'.' 

XXXIV.'.' 
XXXVIIL. 



10., 
22. 
8.. 
18. 
15.. 



PSALMS. 



VI... 

u 

viii.'!! 

XVI... 
XIX... 
XXXI... 
XXXVII... 

LI... 
LXXXVI... 
XC... 



CIV.. 
CVI... 

CXV... 17, 18. 



5-8. 
8-10. 
7. 
10. 
9,10. 
5. 
4. 
7., 
10. 
4., 
15.. 



CXXIX... 
CXXXIX... 



-10. 
13 
14. 



ECCLESIASTES. 



III. 



VII. 

u 

IX*. 
XII.. 



14.. 

18- 20. 

19- 21. 
21. 

8.. 
15., 
4-6. 



387 



INDEX OP SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS. 



ECCLESIASTES. 



MARK. 



CHAP. 


VERSE 


PAGE 


CHAP. 


VERSE 


XII ,,,, 




43 


YVT 


Q 


if 


7 


78 




it 


7 


82 


tt 


16. 



ISAIAH. 

XXXI.. 3 

XXXVIII.. 17,18 

LIV.. 6 

LVIL. 1 



JEREMIAH. 
XXIII 24 



XIII. 



HOSEA. 
14 



ZECHARIAH. 



XII. 
XIV. 



MALACHI. 



IV. 



1-3. 
5,6. 



MATTHEW. 



X ... 


28 


tt 




XI,. 


.. 13,14 


XIII..,. 


.. 39-13 




50 


XVII 




XIX , , 


16 


XXII.,,, 


13 


XXIII 


14 


XXIV, 


14-30 


XXV, 


10, 11 


it 


30 


it 


30 


it 


31 


tt 


41 




46 


it 


46 


XXVI 




XXVII,,,, 


3—5 



MARK. 

V 13 

VI 14 

IX 11-13 

" 45 

X 30 



24 
84 
376 
133 



19 



105 



134 
135 



61 

76 
135 
100 
142 

63 
140 
142 
138 
103 
142 
139 
142 
103 
141 
140 
375 

76 
316 



21 
313 j 
135 I 
276 I 
140 



16 

LUKE. 
17.... 



I 

II 29 

VIII.... 2.26-32 
" 49-55 



X. 



19. 



XII., 



19. 

" 28. 

" 47.48. 

XIII 24.27. 

XIV 13. 14. 



XVI. 



19. 

" 19-39. 

" 22.. 

a 22-26. 

tt 23. 

XX.'.'.''.''. 27.37! 

XXIII 42.43. 

" 43.. 

" 43.. 

" 46.. 



JOHN. 



TTT 




« 6.. 


» . 6.. 


" 13.. 


" 14.. 


" Ifi.. 


TV 


24.. 


" 24.. 


V 


29.. 


XIV 


... 2.3.. 


XX 


17.. 


XXI 


... 18,19.. 




ACTS. 


II 


24.. 




... 25-28.. 




. . 25-32.. 


- 27-31.. 


« 29-33.. 


« 34-.. 




34.. 


IV. 


12.. 


V. .. 


3 




10.. 


X , 


10.. 



PAGE 
20 

126 

376 
142 



135 
50 
20 
46 
20 
140 
76 
139 
138 
142 
101 
109 
60 
65 
111 
139 
58 
59 
112 
113 
45 



142 
35 
39 
117 
376 
140 
18 
75 
120 
102 
116 
48 



85 
115 
116 
S6 
85 
116 
376 
75 
10 
229 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS. 



CHAP. 

XIII. 
XXIII. 



XXVI 



II. 



Ill 



ACTS. 

VERSE 

36,37... 
6... 
8... 
8... 
8.9... 
23... 

ROMANS 
8,9... 
16... 
29..., 
24*. 



VIII 



16.. 
16.. 



X. 
XIV. 



10. 
15. 



I CORINTHIAN? 

II 10,11 

" 11 



III. 
V. 
VI. 



11. 
11. 



" 20. 

" 20. 

XV 16-18. 

" 20. 



54. 55 . 



II CORINTHIAN- 



III. 

IV 



VII. 
XII. 



17.. 
16.. 
17.. 

1- 4.. 
6-9 .. 

1.. 

2- 1 . 
4.. 

4:. 



V. 
VI.. 



GALATIAN.- 

15 

15 



III. , 

IV. . 



EPHESIANS 
15 



PAGE 

86 

56 
55 
59 



II 
77 

376 : 
376 

24 

75 J 

71 
376 
132 



< o 

24 
77 

376 



63 
107 



18 
25 
118 
47 
47 
65 

229 

25 

59 



133 



6S 
39 



CHAP. 

I 



COLOSSIANS. 

VERSE 

18 



I THESSALONIANS. 



I 



IV 
V 



7-10., 
15.17. 
9, 10. 

10. 

23. 



II TIMOTHY. 



IV. 



6. 
6-8. 
8. 



III. 



TITUS. 

5 



PHILEMON. 
... 21-24 

HEBREWS. 



? 11.. 

II 14., 

VI 19.. 

X, 28 29., 

u '.. 39.! 

XI 39.40., 

XII 9.. 



II., 
V.. 



JAMES. 

26 

20 



I PETER. 



1 5,7.13. 

IV 13. 

V 4.. 



II PETER. 



1 12-15.. 

II 4.. 

" 8.. 

Ill 6., 



III. 



I JOHN. 

9 



390 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS. 



CHAP. 
VER .. 



JUDE. 

VERSE 



14,15. 



REVELATION. 



II 7 

VI 9 

VII 14-17 

XI 18.... 

XIV 13 



PAGE 
20 

70 



63 
376 

59 
112 

69 
132 
355 



REVELATION. 



XVI. 

XX., 



XXI. 



XXII. 



13.. 
12.. 
12.. 
12-15.. 
14.. 
8.. 
27., 
3-5. 



12. 
15. 
15. 



PAGE 
65 

138 
276 
118 
113 
375 
374 
374 
358 
276 
376 
375 



INDEX OF POETIC QUOTATIONS. 



PAGE 



Achilles' wrath, to Greece 169 

Ages pass away, thrones fall.. 377 
Amidst your train this unseen. 311 
And though the hills of death. 361 

Beyond this vale of tears 374 

Can it be so ? matter immortal. 237 
Child of the sun, pursue thy.. 335 
Christ, let me come to thee!... 383 
Cold in the dust this perished. 231 

Companion dear, the hour 52 

Conscience, the torturer of the. 313 
Conscience is the mirror of the. 307 
Could you, so rich in rapture.. 305 

Death wounds to cure, we 66 

Dreams may not picture a 356 

Each fainter trace that 276 

Earth's disemboweled 288 

Every tear is wiped away 69 

For there is no sleep 62 

For who to dumb forgetfulness. 299 

Forever with the Lord 370 

Guilt only makes annihilation. 305 
Her ceaseless flight, though.... 224 
Hark! the Judgment trumpet. 71 

Hasten, sinner, to return 378 

He passed, through glorious... 66 
Hope springs eternal in the... 302 

How awful in the hour 319 

How swift thought travels 283 

How swift is a glance of the... 283 

I live, move, am conscious 238 

I see a world of spirits 356 

I shine in the light of God.... 356 
If, then, as annihilate by sin.. 254 
I'm going through the eternal. 365 

In man, the more we dive 277 

In Hanadu did Kubla-Khan... 224 

Is Heaven then kinder to 301 

It must be so ; Plato, thou 306 

Knowest thou the importance. 353 

Let me go, why should 1 303 

Life is real, life is earnest 42 

Life is the hour that God 377 



PAGE 



Life makes the soul dependent. 66 
Lo ! from the dread immensity. 160 
Lo ! on a narrow neck of land. 346 
Lo, the poor Indian, whose ... 176 

Look on that glorious face 192 

Look Nature through, 'tis nice. 182 
Lulled in the countless charm. 272 

Man ill at ease in 301 

Man is not all of earth 338 

Man's misery declares him 301 

Most wondrous book 345 

My days of praise shall ne'er.. 83 
Mysterious Night! when our.. 156 
Nature all o'er is consecrated. 346 
No oppressive heat they feel... 70 

No room for mirth, or 349 

No sickness there 369 

Nor are our powers to perish.. 293 
No matter which my thoughts. 351 

Not all the harps above 367 

No tears shall be in heaven... 364 
O change ! O wondrous change. 237 
O glorious hope of immortality. 361 

O listen, man, a voice 342 

Of systems possible, if its 181 

O happy day that fixed my.... 379 

O may I triumph so 235 

Once on the raging seas I rode. 344 
One army of the living God... 365 
One family we dwell in him... 71 
0 thou thrice blessed word of. 345 
O their crowns how bright . .. 357 

Our buried friends can we 324 

Our life as a dream, our time. 349 
Over the river they beckon.... 324 
Poor, little, pretty, fluttering.. 168 
Read Nature; Nature is the... 154 
Sad were the life we may part. 145 
Say, can the soul; possessed.. 292 

Seize mortal! seize the 349 

Shall I be left forgotten in 304 

She sparkled, was exhaled 347 

So gnaws the grief of 317 

391 



392 



INDEX OF POETIC QUOTATIONS. 



PAGE 



Souls are her charge, to her... 350 

Spirit, thy labor is o'er 363 

Stupendous link in Nature's... 180 

Talk they of morals 376 

The chain of being is 183 

The darkest of enigmas 302 

The gentle interlude, of 205 

The great Jehovah from 323 

The isles of the blessed, they.. 170 

The mourner is blessed by his. 366 

The soul, secure in her 257 

The soul of man, Jehovah's... 352 

The soul that thou hast loved. 368 

The star that sets 157 

The sun is but a spark of fire. 373 

The worm that never dies 398 

Then O my soul, depend no... 364 

Then shall the soul around.... 276 

There all the ship's company.. 366 

There is a death whose pang.. 375 

There is no death, what 58 

There is no sleep, no grave.... 62 

This is the bud of being, the.. 347 

This is the desert, this the 354 

Throw thyself on thy God 223 



PAGE 

'Tis greatly wise to talk with. 373 

'Tis immortality, 'tis that 298 

'Tis not the whole of life to... 372 

'Twas thus by the glare of 344 

Wayworn, infirm and old 3S2 

"We know when the silver 65 

We shape ourselves the joy or. 377 
Were man to live coeval with. 287 
Weep not, my Redeemer lives. 361 
j What is this absorbs me quite. 362 
| When the good man yields.... 64 

j When life's brief changing 332 

When on my new-fledged 367 

j When we hear the music 359 

Where nothing earthly bounds. 331 

While God invites, how 378 

Who can paint the scenes of... 368 
Who reads his bosom, reads... 258 

Whose footsteps these 289 

Why should I shrink at pain.. 370 

Why should the gross 249 

Why, what is death but life... 354 

Yes, heaven is near us 328 

Yet not thus buried or extinct. 358 
Yes! oh yes! in that land 358 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Aborigines of Mexico, belief of the, 

175, 176— of the United States. 176. 
Abraham, the bosom of, 60, 65 — meaning 

of the phrase, 112. 
Adam, creation of, 26, 28. 
Adrian, the Roman emperor, address to I 

his soul, 168 — remarkable memory 

of, 262. 

Age, in itself, no impediment to con- j 
tinned mental improvement, 297. 

Altemont, terrible death of, 236. 

Analogy of Nature against annihilation, i 
249. 

Angels, purely spiritual beings, 19 — im- I 
plied annihilation of, 144 — not hin- I 
dered in flight by material ' obsta- ! 
cles, 194. 

Annihilation of Souls alleged, 131 — ab- j 
surdity of the doctrine of the, 127 — i 
objections to the doctrine of, 136-115 
—of Angels. 111. 

Annihilation of matter, possible with 
God, 215 — never has taken place, \ 
246— analogy of nature against it. : 
249 — denied in the Scriptures, 247. i 

Animals, domestic, improvement of, 193. j 

Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelty and re- 
morse of, 309 — terrible death of, 310. j 

Arabs, belief of in the soul's inimor- ' 
tality, 175. 

Ascension to heaven, order of the, 98. 

Assyrians, ancient, belief of in the soul's 
immortality, 164. 

Bainham. James, triumphant death of, 
233. 

Bee, the honey, illustration from, 273. I 
Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, remarks of 

upon growing old, 205, note. 
Beetle in Japan, remarkable transfer- j 

mation of. 334. 
Beasts, death of. 44, 82. 
Beattie, poem by. ki the hermit," 344. 
Beaufort. Admiral, remarkable case of, ■ 

269. ' 

Belshazzar, remorse and fear of, 308. 
Besus. remorse of conscience of, 312. 
Bible, and science in harmony, 148 — ' 

Pollok's description of the, 315. 
Billion, a, inconceivable number, in 348 j 

— note. 



Birdlets in the shell, 330 — description 
of by Dr. Todd, 331— note. 

Birmans, belief of in a future state, 
173. 

Blind persons, remarkable perceptions 
of, 209. 

Boerhaave, death of, 234. 

Brain, the, not the mind, analysis of, 
200, 243 — may be diseased, or to a 
great extent removed, and not affect 
the intellect. 21G — illustrative cases 
cited, 217, 218. 

Body of man. a tabernacle, 47, 48 — dead 
without the spirit, 51 — not the soul, 
203, 241 — dissolution of no proof 
that the mind perishes with it, 239 
— its elements indestructible, 218 — 
changes in the from childhood to 
manhood — mutilations of the do 
not affect the integrity of the mind, 
210 — completely changed every 
seven years, ibid — emaciation and 
restoration of does not change the 
mind, 241 — no conscious identity of 
from youth to old age, ibid — per- 
fection of, 185 — Professors Owen, 
and Agassiz. and Hugh Miller upon 
the, 186 — remark of Lavater, 187 
— alone adapted to the powers 
of the soul of man, 1S7, 188 — 
Dominion of the soul over, 193 — 
Conscious occupancy of by the 
spirit, 195 — Conscious control over 
by the soul, 196 — a mere instrument 
of the soul. 196 — quotation from 
Butler respecting, 198 — Develop- 
ment of, 203 — vigor of the, when 
greatest. 203. 

Breath, the. not the soul. 75-77. 

Burning up, not annihilation, 133, 136. 

Bush, Professor, quotations from, 319. 
335. 

Butler. Bishop, extracts from, 242. 
Butterfly, metamorphose of, and address 
to, 335. 

Cato, anecdote of. 167 — citation from 

Cicero respecting, ibid. 
Camel, stomach of, illustration from 

the. 273 — extract respecting, note, 

ibid. 

398 



394 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Catalepsy, remarkable case of, 225 — 
proof of the independency of the 
mind of the body, ibid — cases of 
Peter and Paul, 229. 

Caterpillars, transformation of, 335. 

Celts, the ancient, belief of in the soul's 
immortality, 164. 

Chain of animal life, 180 — Smellie on 
the. 181 — poetrv respecting, 182, 
183. 

Chalmers, Dr., citations from, 218 — 
another, respecting insects, 336. 

Changes, seldom abrupt in Nature, 201. 

Christ, soul of, where while his body 
was in the grave, 114, 115 — the 
sinner's only hope, 375 — salvation 
only through faith in his blood. 
376. 

Chickasaw Indians, belief of in a future 
state, 176. 

Cicero, passages from, 163, 167, 177, 
292. 

Clark, Bishop, reference to his recent 
book, 252. 

Clarke. Dr. Adam, on the burial of 
Jacob, 51. 

Classification of material substances, 

how effected, 13. 
Coal, decomposition of. not its annihila- j 

tion, 239. 

Coleridge, remarkable dream of, 223. 

Collins," Miss Mary, case of, 211. 

Caloric, materiality of, 13. 

Comets, return of, 160. 

Conscience, definitions of. 307 — poetic 
description of, 308 — power of to 
make the guilty wretched, 308-319 j 
— bearing of upon the question j 
of a future state, 320 — restitution 
under the power of. 314—316 — re- j 
morse of Hobbes, 312— (See Re- j 
morse.) 

Consolation for the bereft, 351. 
" Consumed,-' not equivalent to annihi- [ 
lated, 133. 

Conversion of the writer, means by | 
which brought about, 379, note. ! 
Count Lavallette, anecdote of, 280. 
Cranmer, triumphant death of. 232. 
Creation of man, process of the. 26-28. 
Cyrus, remarkable memory of, 260. 

David, hope of, 356 — " not yet ascended j 
into heaven," — meaning of the ex- j 
pression, 85-87, 116. 

Day and Night, phenomena of. 155. 

Dahomey, belief of the inhabitants of, j 
174. 

Death, the nature of, 42 — a giving up 
of the ghost. 44 — a " putting off of I 
this tabernacle," 47 — a departure, ! 
49 — not a literal sleep, 79, 80 — j 
views of Dobney respecting, 121 — 
not annihilation, 125-130 — a penalty 1 
for sin, 125. 

Death, triumph over, 232, 235 — Poly carp, 
John Huss, Jerome of Prague. Cran- 
mer and Lambert, 232 — Mr. Ormes, 
James Bainham. and Mr. Hawkes, I 



234 — Rev. Alamon Reed, Boerhaave, 
Rev. Mr. Halyburton, Dr. Payson, 
234— Dr. William Fiske, 235. 
Death, desire to be remembered after, 
298 — followed by immediate glory, 

65, 72, 89, 94 — natural emblems of. 
330-338. 

Dead, the over continued love for, 322 — 
still bring, 354 — if Christians, at 
rest, 355. 

Decay of the intellect in old age, how 

accounted for, 204. 
Deist, an aged, anecdote of, 151 — errors 

of the, 149, 150. 
Dempster, Rev. John, D. D.. brief passage 

from, 347. 

Be Senectute, of Cicero, quotation from, 
167. 

Desires, the nature of our, a proof of im- 
mortalitv. 291 — to be remembered 
after death, 298. 
Destroyed," not equivalent to annihi- 
lated. 132. 

Devils, immortality of, 20. 

Dick, Dr. Thomas, views of, 252 — quota- 
tions from, 147. 164, 165, 172, 179, 
299, 319-321. 

Diodoret, opinion of respecting the 
senses, 212, note. 

Discontent of man, a proof of a future 
state, 300. 

Dobney. views of respecting the nature 
of death, 121. 

Dreaming, rapidity of thought in, 280, 
281 — proof of the independent ex- 
istence of the soul, 22-4 — examples 
of. 222. 223. 

Drew, Samuel, reference to, 247, 253 — 
quotations from, 255. 

Drowning, activity of the mind in, 229— 
case of Admiral Beaufort, 269. 

Druids, the ancient, belief of respecting 
the immortality of the soul, 164. 

;1 Dust." Gen. iii. 19, does not include the 
soul, 42. 43. 

Dwarf, an Indian, remarkable intelli- 
gence of, 207. 

Egyptians, the ancient, belief of in a 

future state, 164. 
Electricity, materiality of, 13 — distinct 

from the substance in which it 

dwells, 22— body charged with, 239. 
Elias, appearing of, upon Mount Tabor, 

63. 

Ellis, opinions of, 122 — a materialist, 123. 
Essences, the, belief of in the soul's im- 
mortality, 56. 
Eternity, compared with time, 346-350. 

Farewell of the Soul to the Body, 52. 
Fella, M., the painter without hands, 
210. 

Fish, without eyes, 322. 

Fisk. Dr. Wilbur, triumphant death of, 

66, 235. 

Friendly Islands, belief of the inhabi- 
tants of in the soul's immortality, 
172. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



395 



Fruits and flowers, improvement of, by 

cultivation, 193. 
Furnian, Mr. S. K.. poem by. 381. 
Future Punishment, proposed wish upon. 

380, note. 

Gabriel, not hindered in flight by mate- 
rial obstacles, 194. 

Gallas. of Abyssinia, belief of in the 
soul's immortality. 174. 

Ghost, the giving up of, 44. 

God, a Spirit without body, 18 — omni- 
presence of, IS, 19 — the God of the 
dead, 57. 

Good, Dr. John Mason, remarks of upon 

the subject of sleep, 221. 
Graham Lectures, bv Dr. Storrs. quoted. 

295-298. 

Gray's Philosophy, extract from, 246. 
Greeks, the ancient, belief of respecting 
the soul's immortality, 164. 

Hades, meaning of the term. 106 — Jose- 
phus' description of, 10S-111. 

Haller, triumphant death of. 234. 

Halyburton. happy death of, 234. 

Hawkes, happy death of, 233. 

Heaven, purity of, 375 — order of ascen- 
sion to, 98 — hope of a support in 
death, 235 — recognition of friends 
in, 326. (See Paradise.) 

Heavenly world, proposed work upon, 
3S0, note. 

Helffenstein. quotation from, 151, note. 
Henry IT., remorse of. 310. 
Herbert, Lord, creed of referred to, 
150. 

Herod the Great, miserable death of. 
310 — remark of Augustus respect- 
ing, 300, note — remorse of. 313. 

Herschell, William, constructing tele- 
scopes, 295. 

Herschell. Sir John, remarkable dreams 
of, 223. 

Hicks. Albert W.. confession of as to his 
remorse of conscience, 317. 

Hobbes, Thomas, remorse of, 312. 

Hobart, Bishop, quotation from respect- 
ing the import of the term sleen." 
81. 

Homer. Iliad and Odyssey of. both teach 
the doctrine of the soul's immor- 
tality, 169. 

Honey bee. illustration from the, 273. 

Hope, a proof of man's immortality. 301 
— of heaven, a support in death. 235. 

Hopkins. President, extract from re- 
specting man. 1S2. 

Horse, sublime description of the. 188. 

1 [orsley. Bishop, quotation from respect- 
ing the Intermediate state, 61. 

Hudson, Mr. C. F.. views of respecting 
the soul, 123. 

Hunter, John, remarkable cataleptic 
case of, 230. 

Huss, John, triumphant death of. 232. 

Iliad of Homer, teaches the doctrine of 
the soul's immortality, 169. 



Immortal Longings, a poem, 383. 

Immortality, natural, 254 — Dr. Good's 
views of, 254, note — Rational Evi- 
dences of defined, 147 — not a result 
of faith in Christ, 121 — nor of re- 
demption, 254 — the desire of a proof 
of another life, 304-306. 

Indian dwarf, intelligence of, 207. 

Indians of North America, belief of in a 
future state, 176. 

Insects, transmutations of, 336. 

Instinct, distinct from reason, 285 — Il- 
lustrations of, 285, 286. 

Intermediate state, extract from Bishop 
Horsley respecting. 61 — necessarily 
different from the final, 96 — an ab- 
normal condition, 97 — not the final 
state, 98 — not one of complete re- 
ward or punishment, 100 — implied 
in description of the judgment, 103 
— taught by Christ, 103-109 — views 
of Jews respecting the, 109-111 — 
views of Protestant writers respect- 
ing, 96, 99. 

Intuition, explanation of the term, 277. 

Jacob, burial of, 51. 

Japan, curious beetle in, 334. 

Japanese and Javanese, belief of respect- 
ing a future state, 174. 175. 

Jerome of Prague, triumphant death of. 
232. 

Jews, belief of in the soul's immortality, 
57 — views of different sects of repre- 
senting an intermediate state, 109- 
111. 

Josephus, Flavius, extracts from con- 
cerning Hades. 55, 109, 110. 

Judgment, descriptions of the dav of, 
141. 

Kalmuc Tartars, belief of respecting 

another life, 173. 
Knowledge, our thirst for, a proof of our 

immortal destination, 294. 

Lambert, happy death of, 232. 
Lazarus, carried to " Abraham's bosom,'"' 
60, 65. 

Lectures. Graham's, quoted. 296-29S. 
Lee, Dr. Luther, quoted, 16, note, 236, 

240 — note respecting his work, 253. 
Lessons from Natural phenomena. 154. 
Le Terrier, discovery of a Xew Planet 

by. 326. illustration drawn from, 

Levden. Dr.. remarkable memory of, 
261. 

Life, evolved from death, 160 — brevity 
of. 346 — infinite value of, 348 — rela- 
tion of to eternity, 374. 

Light, materiality of, 13. 

Lily, the water, an emblem of immor- 
tality, 333. 

Lord Herbert, opinions of noticed, 150. 

Love, Bev. C.. happv death of, 67. 

Love for the dead, 321-329. 

Locusts, the "seven vear, ? ' transforma- 
tion of. 334. 



396 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Magnetism, materiality of, 13 — invisi- 
bility of, 256. 

Man, two-fold nature of, 22 — creation of, 
26-28 — imperfect during the inter- 
mediate state, 96, 97 — not fully re- 
warded or punished till the general 
resurrection, 100 — relation to brutes, 
180, 182 — vast achievements of, 287, 
289 — his works proclaim his immor- 
tality, 289, 290— why often confined 
to a special pursuit, 290, 291 — a mi- 
crocosm, 182 — body of, see " Body." 

Mankind, general belief of, touching the 
soul's immortality, 163. 

Martyrs, hopes of in death, 67, 89, 92 — 
triumphant death of the, 232, 233. 

Mason, Dr. Erskine. extract from, on the 
study of Natural Theology, 148. 

Matter, the term defined, 11 — extent of 
our knowledge of, ibid — difference 
in the ultimate particles of, 11, 12 — 
essential properties of, 12 — how clas- 
sified, 13 — how identified, as such, 
14 — distinguished from spirit in the 
Scriptures, 18-21 — created to minis- 
ter to the happiness of spiritual life, 
194 — indestructibility of, 245 — God 
could annihilate, ibid — never did nor 
will, 247, 248, 254, 255— durability 
of, how tested, 251. 

Materialists, disagreement among, as to 
the alleged annihilation of souls, 
131, note. 

Memory, capability of cultivation, 258 — 
of Hortensius, an Indian, 25S — of 
Cyrus, Scipio, Mithridates, Char- 
meades, Moderata Fonte, Thomas 
Fuller, and Sir Walter Scott, 200 
— of Sydney Smith, Professor Por- 
son, Dr. Lej T den and Woodfall, 261 
— of Pascal, a blind Scotchman. 
Adrian, and Napoleon, 262 — of Bow- 
land, a lawyer, 264: — not necessarily 
affected by distance of time, 263 — 
quickened by sudden peril, 268 — in 
drowning, 269 — by fever, 270 — its 
resurrection a well established fact, 
272 — one of the "books" of the 
judgment, ibid — illustration of the 
bearing of, in the argument, 273-275. 

Mental action, rapidity of, 277-284 — re- 
markable instance of mental multi- 
plication, 279. 

Mithridates, remarkable memory of, 260. 

Methuselah, legend of the Rabbins re- 
specting, 349. 

Microcosm, man a, 182. 

Mind, progress of the, in knowledge, 
after the body begins to fail, 203 — 
decay of in old age explained, 204 — 
not dependent upon a healthy brain, 
255 — indestructible by material 
agencies, 255-257. 

Mitchel, James, remarkable ability of 
to recognize persons, 209. 

Modern nations, belief of respecting the 
soul's immortality, 172-176. 

Moon, changes of. lessons from. the. 
158. 



Morgagni and Haller, statements of 

concerning the brain, 217. 
Moses, appearing of on Mount Tabor, 63. 
Mozart, requiem and death of, 362. 

Napoleon, remarkable memory of, 262. 
Nature, phenomena of, lessons from, 154 
-161. 

Natural Theology, relation of to revealed 

truth, 147-153 — importance of, 148, 

152— (See Theology.) 
Nerves, of the same substance as the 

brain, 215. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, remarks of concerning 

his discoveries and attainments. 295. 
New Zealanders, belief of respecting a 

future life, 172. 

Odyssey of Homer, teaches the immor- 
tality of the soul, 169. 

Officer, a young British, case of, 215, note. 

O'Halloran, remarkable case of referred 
to. 217. 

Ormes. Mrs. Cecelia, happy death of, 233. 
Osterwald, Rev. John Frederic, extract 

from. 171, note. 
Ox, contentment of the, 300. 
Ovid, taught the soul's immortality, 169. 

Paine, Thomas, monument and hope of, 

150. 

Paradi.se. what and where, 59 — Lazarus 
in, 60 — glory and happiness of, 118, 
119. 

Patagonians, belief of in the immor- 
tality of the soul, 175. 

Paschal, remarkable memory of, 263. 

Paul, St.. caught up to Paradise. 25. 229. 

Payson. Rev. Dr., happy death of, 234. 

Pelew islands, belief of the inhabitants 
of the, 172. 

" Perished," meaning of the term, 87 — 
not equivalent to annihilated. 132. 

Personal identity, how destroyed, 142. 

Persians, the ancient, belief of in a future 
state, 161 — Phenicians, ibid. 

Pharisees, belief of in the soul's immor- 
tality. 55— St. Paul belonged to the 
sect of the, 56. 

Phasdon, citation from the, 165-167. 

Philosophy, teachings of, 17 — Extracts 
from Gray's Natural, 246. 

Pine tree, an emblem of immortality, 332. 

Pindar, ode of, 170. 

Plato, quotation from, 168. 

Poetrv, (see Index of Poetic Quotations,) 
391. 

Polycarp. triumphant death of, 232. 
Porson, Professor, remarkable memorv 
of, 261. 

Priest, Miss, exquisite poem by, 324. 
Prayer, for the reader. &c 3 closing the 

volume, 378. 
Prospect, glorious, before the dying 

Christian, 361-371. 
Psyche, import of the term. 334. 
j Punishment, future, degrees of. 137— to 
be endless, 140 — proposed work 
| * upon. 3S0. note. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



397 



Rabbins, legend of the respecting Methu- 
selah, 349. 

Rational evidences of Immortality, de- 
fined, 147— theory of the, 149-152— 
(See Natural Theology.) 

Reason, progressive character of, 286, 287. 

Reason and Nature, insufficiency of, as 
teachers of Religion, 343. 345 — not 
to be understood, 346. 

Recapitulation of Arguments, 340. 

Recognition of friends in heaven, 326, 360. 

Redemption, reasonableness and glory 
of, 351. 

Reed, Rev. Alanson, happy death of, 234. 
Relation of man to the iower animals, 
180-182. 

Religion, Natural, not a primary revela- 
tion, 152 — not satisfactory, 343 — re- 
lation of to revealed, 147-153 — (See 
Theology.) 

Religion, revealed, perfection and glory 
of, 343. 

Remorse of Belshazzar and Tiberius, 308. 
309, of Antiochus Epiphanes. 309'. 
of Herod, Galerius Maximianus, 
Philip HI. of Spain ; Charles IX. of 
France, and Henrv IT.. 310 — of King- 
Richard m., 311 — of Joseph's 
brethren. 313 — of others. 316— of 
Albert W. Hicks, 317— (See Con- 
science.) 

Restitutions, under the power of can- 
science,'314-316. 

Resurrection of the Dead, proposed work 
upon the, 380 — order of the, 98 — de- 
scription of the, 105. 

Reverie, definition of the term, 219 — ex- 
amples of, Rittenhouse. Tiote, Ma- 
rini, &c, 220. 

Richard IIL. remorse of, 311. 

Riggs, Mr. E. C, poem by, 332. 

Romans, the ancient, belief of in a future 
state, 164. 

Sadducees. doctrine of the, 56. 

Safford, Henry T., wonderful mental 

achievements of, 278. 
Saints, the souls of, to return with I 

Christ, 70, 71. 
Salvation, only through faith in Christ, I 

376. 

Samoidians, the ancient, belief of -in a i 

future state, 173. 
Saussure, remarkable case of. 216. 
Scandinavians, the ancient belief of in 

the soul's immortality, 175. 
Scipio, Lucius, remarkable memory of, 

260. 

Science and the Bible, harmony between, 
148. 

Scott, Sir Walter, remarkable memory 
of, 260. 

Scythians, the ancient, belief of in a 

future state, 164. 
Seasons, the. changes of, a lesson, &c, 159. 
Seneca, doubts of respecting a future 

state, 152 — quotations from, 163. 
Sheol, meaning of the term, 106, 115. 
Ships, squadron of, illustration from, 154. 



Sin, the penalty of not annihilation, 139. 

Sleep, description of, and quotations 
from Dr. Good respecting, 221— of 
souls, objections to, the doctrine of, 
92-94 — quotations from Bishop Ho- 
bart respecting the meaning of the 
term, 81 — (See Soul.) 

Smith. Sydney, extraordinary memory 
of, 261. 

Socrates, belief and hope of, 151 — quota- 
tions from, 165. 

Souls, distinct from the body, 22 — not all 
created together, 30 — not created for 
each body. 32 — propagated, 37 — " fly 
away " at death, 46 — farewell of to 
the body, 52 — Conscious existence 
of between death and the resurrec- 
tion, 54 — cannot be killed, 62 — live 
with Christ after death, ibid — alleged 
sleep of, 73 — sleep of not literal, 79- 
81 — place of between death and the 
resurrection, 95 — imperfect during 
the intermediate state, 96 — alleged 
annihilation of. 121 — Adrian's ad- 
dress to his, 168— the light of the 
body, 189 — its dignity inferable from 
the perfection of the body, 192 — do- 
minion of over the body, 193 — energy 
of where physical organs are want- 
ing, 209 — powers of unimpaired un- 
der bodily mutilations, 214 — energy 
of in the hour of death, 232 — con- 
scious identity of from childhood to 
old age, 239 — sympathy of with the 
body, 243— immateriality of the, 250 
powers of, 250 — capabilities of im- 
provement, 285-291 — vast achieve- 
ments, ibid, and 287-289 — poetic de- 
scription of the value of, 353. 

Society Islanders, belief of in a future 
state, 172. 

Spinal marrow, a continuation of the 
brain, and of the same substance, 
215. 

Spirit, properties of, 15 — distinct from 
matter, 16 — capable of separate ex- 
istence, 22 — distinguished from the 
body in the Scriptures, 18-25 — the 
seat of knowledge, 24 — of beasts go 
downward, 44, 82 — triumph of over 
matter and power to pass material 
barriers, 194 — disembodied, we no 
practical acquaintance with, 238 — 
(See Soul.) 

Spiritual beings, three classes of, 21. 

Squadron of ships, illustration from a. 
154. 

State, the Intermediate, 94 — (See Inter- 
mediate State.) 

Storrs, George, errors of respecting the 
nature of the soul, 122. 

Storrs, Dr. Richard S., quotations from 
his Graham's Lectures, 296. 

Summary of the argument, 340. 

Tartini, remarkable dream of, 222. 
Taylor. Dr., triumphant death of, 67. 
Teivnant, Rev. Win, trance of, 225. 
The Dead, our continued love for, 322. 



398 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Theology, natural, remarks of Dr. Mason i 

respecting, 148 — two errors respect- ! 

ing, 149-152 — relation to revealed 

religion, 152. 
The righteous, happiness of in heaven, j 

355-357. 

Thought, rapidity of, 277 — in adding up ! 
figures, 278 — in multiplving — (Saf- 
ford,) 278— in dreaming, 280, 281— in ! 
cases of apparent drowning, 282 — in 
flights of the imagination, -283. 

Tiberius, remorse of, 308, 309. 

Til ton, Theodore, extracts from, 268, 272. 

Time, as compared with Eternity, 346- 
350. 

Traduction of souls explained, Wesley's 
and Luther's views of the, 37--41. 

Transfiguration of Christ, 63. 

Tupper, views of respecting the grounds 
of our immortality, 254. 

Turner's Sacred History, extract from, 
337. 



Unconverted readers, appeal to, 372. 
Universe, first grand division of the, 16. 
Uranus, perturbations of, 327. 

Valedictory, the Old Man's, 381. 

Value, comparative, of things temporal 

and eternal, 350. 
Virgil, taught the immortality of the 

soul. 

Wesley, John, extract from on the origin 

of souls, 38-41. 
White, Henry Kirk, experience of, 344. 
Worm, the undying, 276. 

Yucatanese, belief of in the soul's im- 
mortality, 175. 

Zamifif, origin and meaning of the term, 
247, note. 



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